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Physical Review Letters

Single-Photon Diode by Exploiting the Photon Polarization in a Waveguide

Yuecheng Shen, Matthew Bradford, Jung‐Tsung Shen

Published Oct 17, 2011• 110 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A single-photon optical diode operates on individual photons and allows unidirectional propagation of photons. By exploiting the unique polarization configuration in a waveguide, we show here that a single-photon optical diode can be accomplished by coupling a quantum impurity to a passive, linear optical waveguide which possesses a locally planar, circular polarization. We further show that the diode provides a near unitary contrast for an input pulse with finite frequency bandwidth and can be implemented in a variety of types of waveguides. Moreover, the performance of the diode is not sensitive to the intrinsic dissipation of the quantum impurity.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.107.173902

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A single-photon optical diode operates on individual photons and allows unidirectional propagation of photons. By exploiting the unique polarization configuration in a waveguide, we show here that a single-photon optical diode can be accomplished by coupling a quantum impurity to a passive, linear optical waveguide which possesses a locally planar, circular polarization. We further show that the diode provides a near unitary contrast for an input pulse with finite frequency bandwidth and can be implemented in a variety of types of waveguides. Moreover, the performance of the diode is not sensitive to the intrinsic dissipation of the quantum impurity.
The nonreciprocal propagation of light at the single-photon level is essential for building a quantum network. Bulk optical schemes are lossy and difficulty to integrate onto a chip. We propose a single-photon optical diode and a three-port circulator without a magnetic field by coupling an unbalanced quantum impurity to a passive, linear optical waveguide or a whispering-gallery-mode microresonator which supports a locally or globally circularly polarized photon. Thanks to the unbalanced quantum Jaynes-Cummings coupling, the optical nonreciprocal propagation of single photons can be achieved without an external magnetic field. In particular, the three-port single-photon circulator can be accomplished using the existing experimental technology. The optical isolation can be reversed by selectively populating the initial state of the quantum impurity. Moreover, by using an ensemble of identical atoms filled in a hollow-core microbottle resonator, nonreciprocal propagation of weak light pulses can be achieved.
We study coherent few-photon transport in a dissipative nonlinear cavity coupled to a 1D waveguide, deriving analytical solutions that reveal how cavity dissipation regulates the few-photon diode effect. Key findings show that under Γ/𝜆 = 1 (Γ:waveguide-cavity coupling, 𝜆: dissipation) and 𝛿1 = 0Γ:(1) For single photons, left incidence yields perfect transmission while right incidence causes complete dissipation absorption, forming an efficient single-photon diode;(2) For two photons under single-photon resonance, left incidence allows unimpeded transmission whereas right incidence results in near-total dissipation (> 99%)leaving only a faint bound state, maintaining strong diode characteristics despite minimal transmission. The condition Γ/𝜆 = 1 optimizes directional suppression via cavity dissipation, providing a theoretical foundation for quantum diode devices in integrated quantum optics and information processing.
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Abstract We propose a scheme to realize a single-photon diode and circulator using two waveguides chirally coupled to a five-level M -type atom. Two external control fields are introduced to drive the emitter. Non-reciprocal single-photon propagation can be completed in our scheme, which underpins the single-photon diode and circulator. The single-photon diode can work well at special frequency points of the incident photon simultaneously. We can modulate the Rabi frequencies and detunings of the control fields to satisfy various values of frequency points of the incident photon. In addition, the non-reciprocity of the photon propagation can be turned off or on when the control fields are turned off or on. A single-frequency filter can filter out a special frequency for the incident photon by adjusting the detunings of the control fields. The single-photon circulator can realize photon propagation in the pathways 1 → 2 , 2 → 3 , 3 → 4 , 4 → 1 with probability 100%. The properties of the circulator can be modulated by adjusting the Rabi frequencies and detunings of the control fields.
One of the challenges faced by optical platforms for quantum technologies is the implementation of (ultimately) a transistor. The functionality that is hard to achieve is rectification: having the beam propagating in one direction transmitted, the other reflected. Here we take up a simple model of such a rectifying device, a.k.a.~optical diode, consisting of two atoms with different detuning interacting with light in a one-dimensional waveguide. In previous studies, it was found that high rectifying efficiencies can be achieved with coherent states, while it was claimed that the device cannot rectify single-photon Fock states. In this paper, we clarify the functioning of this diode. Notably, we show that coherences across the Fock bases in the input state do not play any role, and thence the rectifying properties of the device depend only on its behavior on the Fock states. In the process, we show that some single-photon rectification is predicted when the limit of infinitely-long pulses is not taken.
We present a novel photonic crystal waveguide, engineered to support broadband modes with circular in-plane polarization. We show experimental evidence that for single-photon emitters with circular dipoles these waveguides act as near-lossless unidirectional photonic reservoirs, where the emission direction is given by the helicity of the dipole. This directional coupling has a strong effect on the scattering of single photons transmitted through the system and we discuss how counter-propagating photons acquire a relative phase of π. Combining this effect with photonic structures that can map a phase to a propagation path, we show how one can create nonreciprocal photonic elements.