Numerical analysis of an innovative energy-harvesting system in the infrared region

In the field of renewable energy sources, the sun has rightly a predominant role and many techniques have been developed so far to exploit solar energy for power supply and heating. In this paper, we propose an in-depth investigation on a new solution to deploy THz sun radiation in the infrared (IR) region: an array of planar bow-tie antennas with misaligned arms is designed, and tunnel diodes are used to rectify THz power. A theoretical estimation of the overall performance is discussed, together with technological constraints and future researches.