A bidirectional tunable optical diode based on periodically poled LiNbO_3

Abstract

We propose a bidirectional tunable optical diode based on a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) with defect. An acoustic wave propagates together with the light beam so that a collinear photon-phonon interaction happens, which affects the nonlinear optical processes in PPLN. The fundamental wave exhibits an optical diode effect, i.e., the light only may travel toward a single direction while the opposite way is isolated. However, the acoustic wave could be used to adjust the contrast of optical isolation from -1 to 1. A direction-optional operation is thus realized. Moreover, the advantages of our tunable PPLN optical diode are also discussed.

Ultrabroadband nonreciprocal transverse energy flow of light in linear passive photonic circuits

“…Two different types of nonrecipricity, FBNR and LRNR, have been discovered in optical systems [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. The FBNR requires the breaking of the Lorentz reciprocity theorem and means that the forward and backward transmissions are not equal when the sources and responses interchange [21].…”

“…The known optical nonreciprocity can be divided into two classes: forward-backward nonrecipricity (FBNR) and left-right nonrecipricity (LRNR). The first class of nonreciprocal component is well studied [1] and can be realized by various approaches using the magneto-optic effects [2][3][4][5][6][7], nonlinearity [8], a modulation media [9][10][11], optomechanics [12,13], or magnetized plasmonic metal [14,15]. It can be used for optical isolators.…”

Low‐Power and High‐Contrast Nanoscale All‐Optical Diodes Via Nanocomposite Photonic Crystal Microcavities

“…An all‐optical diode is an essential component of optical computing, optical interconnection systems and integrated photonic circuits. Analogous to their electronic counterparts, all‐optical diodes have non‐reciprocal transmission properties, i.e., transmitting light in one direction and blocking it in the reverse direction 3. There are two key characteristics for all‐optical diodes: low operating power and high transmission contrast, which is defined as the ratio of maximum transmission in one direction to the corresponding transmission in the reverse direction 4.…”

Optical communications

“…So, there are many works about isolators. Although some new nonlinear optics based isolators have been proposed, the magneto-optical (MO) isolator is still the only one being practically used [6,7]. Generally, conventional MO isolators only work at a singlewavelength.…”