Recent development of antenna-coupled thermocouples

Antenna-coupled nanothermocouples (ACNTCs) for infrared detection have been developed over the past few years. These devices are based on the wave nature of the IR radiation; the antenna receives the electromagnetic radiation, and the radiation-induced antenna-currents are rectified by a nanoscale thermocouple. We characterize the frequency-dependent response and the relative Seebeck coefficients of single-metal and bi-metal nanoscale thermocouples. Polarization-dependent measurements of ACNTCs are also demonstrated.