Microscale Chiral Rectennas for Energy Harvesting.

Wireless radiofrequency rectifiers have the potential to power the billions of "Internet of Things" (IoT) devices currently in use by effectively harnessing ambient electromagnetic radiation. However, the current technology relies on the implementation of rectifiers based on Schottky diodes, which exhibit limited capabilities for high-frequency and low-power applications. Consequently, they require an antenna to capture the incoming signal and amplify the input power, thereby limiting the possibility of miniaturizing devices to the millimeter scale. Here, the authors report wireless rectification at the GHz range in a microscale device built on single chiral tellurium with extremely low input powers. By studying the crystal symmetry and the temperature dependence of the rectification, the authors demonstrate that its origin is the intrinsic nonlinear conductivity of the material. Additionally, the unprecedented ability to modulate the rectification output by an electrostatic gate is shown. These results open the path to developing tuneable microscale wireless rectifiers with a single material.

Metal Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Magnetron Sputtering Technology for Volatile Organic Compound Detection in the Microwave Frequency Range.

Metal oxide thin films such as copper oxide, titanium dioxide, and tin dioxide deposited by magnetron sputtering technology were verified as a gas-sensitive layer in microwave-based gas sensors operated at 2.4 GHz. The developed gas sensors were tested at room temperature (23 °C) and 50% relative humidity (RH) under exposure to 0⁻200 ppm of selected volatile organic compounds (acetone, ethanol, and methanol) that are of high interest in industry and biomedical applications. The highest responses to acetone were obtained for CuO-based gas sensors, to ethanol for SnO2-based gas sensors, while for methanol detection both dioxides, SnO2 and TiO2, exhibited good sensitivity.

Tin Dioxide Thin Film with UV-enhanced Acetone Detection in Microwave Frequency Range.

In this paper, the UV illumination effect for microwave gas sensors based on the tin dioxide was verified. A UV LED with emission wavelength close to the absorption edge of the SnO2 gas-sensing layer was selected as the UV source. The developed gas sensors were tested under exposure to acetone in the 0-200 ppm range at room temperature. The sensor's complex reflection coefficient corresponding to target gas concentration was measured with the use of a five-port reflectometer system exhibiting enhanced uncertainty distribution, which allows for the detection of low gas concentration. The UV illumination significantly emphasizes the sensors' response in terms of both magnitude and phase for low gas concentrations, in contrast to previously reported results, in which only the reflection coefficient's phase was affected. The highest responses were obtained for modulated UV illumination.

Rigorous Approach for Design of Differential Coupled-Line Directional Couplers Applicable in Integrated Circuits and Substrate-Embedded Networks.

We report rigorous approach for the design of differential coupled-line directional couplers in multilayer dielectric structures. In the proposed procedure numerically calculated per-unit-length parameters of coupled transmission lines are utilized for derivation of differential couplers' properties. The known description technique with multimode scattering parameters has been extended to the eight-ports considered in the paper and the properties resulting from symmetry of the considered networks have been shown. Exemplary 3-dB and 8-dB coupled-line directional couplers have been designed and experimentally evaluated. Nodal to mixed-mode conversion of scattering parameters has been applied to allow for measurements of the physically realized models. Results of measurements are shown to confirm the presented theoretical considerations.