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Physical Review Letters

Collision-Induced Broadband Optical Nonreciprocity

Chao Liang, Bei Liu, An‐Ning Xu, Xin Wen, Cuicui Lu, Keyu Xia, Meng Khoon Tey, Yong‐Chun Liu, Li You

Published Sep 14, 2020• 114 citations

Abstract

Optical nonreciprocity is an essential property for a wide range of applications, such as building nonreciprocal optical devices that include isolators and circulators. The realization of optical nonreciprocity relies on breaking the symmetry associated with Lorentz reciprocity, which typically requires stringent conditions such as introducing a strong magnetic field or a high-finesse cavity with nonreciprocal coupling geometry. Here we discover that the collision effect of thermal atoms, which is undesirable for most studies, can induce broadband optical nonreciprocity. By exploiting the thermal atomic collision, we experimentally observe magnet-free and cavity-free optical nonreciprocity, which possesses a high isolation ratio, ultrabroad bandwidth, and low insertion loss simultaneously. The maximum isolation ratio is close to 40 dB, while the insertion loss is less than 1 dB. The bandwidth for an isolation ratio exceeding 20 dB is over 1.2 GHz, which is 2 orders of magnitude broader than typical resonance-enhanced optical isolators. Our work paves the way for the realization of high-performance optical nonreciprocal devices and provides opportunities for applications in integrated optics and quantum networks.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.125.123901

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Hot atoms have been demonstrated to be a promising platform for the manipulation of optical fields. However, the thermal motion of atoms results in the broadening of spectral lines, which is accompanied by a reduction in the light-atom interaction. In this study we propose a nonreciprocal optical system that significantly enhances the strength of the light-atom interaction by unidirectionally compensating for the broadening associated with two-photon processes, employing inhomogeneous light shifts in a $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ system. Utilizing the density matrix formalism, we provide a detailed description of the dynamics and examine the nonreciprocity in two distinct detuned regions. In the far-detuned region, a room-temperature nonreciprocity with an isolation of

37.3\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{dB}

and a transmission of 0.99 can be achieved. Furthermore, in the near-resonance region, the ultrabroad bandwidth of the nonreciprocal window can reach gigahertz. Our findings pave the way for the realization of high-performance optical nonreciprocity and present opportunities for applications in integrated optics and quantum networks.

Nonreciprocal optical devices, such as isolators and circulators, provide highly desirable functionalities in routing signals. This motivates the active research on high-efficiency nonreciprocal devices, especially for miniaturized and integrable magnetic-free schemes. All the present experimental demonstrations of circulators in optical domains are based on the high-

Q

factor cavity. In this work, we demonstrate a cavity-free optical circulator with low insertion loss by making use of a far-detuned nonlinear Raman process with the assistance of the atomic Doppler effect. Due to the large detuning, the excited state can be adiabatically eliminated, resulting in nearly vanishing absorption. An optical circulator with average transmission of more than $85\mathrm{%}$ and fidelity above

0.98

is well achieved in an experiment with hot atoms. Our scheme shows the possibility of cavity-free nonreciprocal optical devices with low insertion loss.

Nonreciprocal quantum devices with low loss are indispensable in quantum information processing but challenging to be realized. Here we report an experiment to realize the nonreciprocal phase shift larger than $\ensuremath{\pi}$ with low loss in a cavity-free and magnetic-free cold atomic ensemble based on electromagnetically induced transparency. Furthermore, a four-port all-optical circulator is demonstrated with an average isolation ratio of 22.25 dB and transmission of 0.94 for each channel. At its optimal working point, the circulator's total isolation ratio reaches 63.47 dB, transmission reaches 0.86, and fidelity at about 0.99. Our work can advance further investigation of nonreciprocity with cold atoms in quantum information processing applications.

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