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New Journal of Physics

Ultra-high optical nonreciprocity with a coupled triple-resonator structure

Zhen Cao, Yi Fei Xie, Bing He, Qing Lin

Published Dec 11, 2020• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Optical transmission nonreciprocity as a widely investigated phenomenon is essential to various applications. Many sophisticated mechanisms have been proposed and tested for achieving the optical nonreciprocity on integrated scale, but the technical barriers still exist to their practical implementation. To have an ultra-high transmission nonreciprocity, we consider a simple physical mechanism of optical gain saturation applied to a structure of three mutually coupled cavities or fiber rings. The gain saturation processes in two of its components creates a significantly enhanced optical nonreciprocity that satisfies the requirements for the realistic applications. The structure enjoys two advantages of its wide working bandwidth and the flexibility in choosing its components. Moreover, it is possible to apply the structure to a faithful and non-reciprocal transmission of broadband pulse signals. The structure may considerably relax the constraints on the integrated photonic circuits based on the current technology.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/abd27b

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Abstract Optical transmission nonreciprocity as a widely investigated phenomenon is essential to various applications. Many sophisticated mechanisms have been proposed and tested for achieving the optical nonreciprocity on integrated scale, but the technical barriers still exist to their practical implementation. To have an ultra-high transmission nonreciprocity, we consider a simple physical mechanism of optical gain saturation applied to a structure of three mutually coupled cavities or fiber rings. The gain saturation processes in two of its components creates a significantly enhanced optical nonreciprocity that satisfies the requirements for the realistic applications. The structure enjoys two advantages of its wide working bandwidth and the flexibility in choosing its components. Moreover, it is possible to apply the structure to a faithful and non-reciprocal transmission of broadband pulse signals. The structure may considerably relax the constraints on the integrated photonic circuits based on the current technology.
Breaking Lorentz reciprocity was believed to be a prerequisite for nonreciprocal transmissions of light fields, so the possibility of nonreciprocity by linear optical systems was mostly ignored. We put forward a structure of three mutually coupled microcavities or optical fiber rings to realize optical nonreciprocity. Although its couplings with the fields from two different input ports are constantly equal, such system transmits them nonreciprocally either under the saturation of an optical gain in one of the cavities or with the asymmetric couplings of the circulating fields in different cavities. The structure made up of optical fiber rings can perform nonreciprocal transmissions as a time-independent linear system without breaking Lorentz reciprocity. Optical isolation for inputs simultaneously from two different ports and even approximate optical isolator operations are implementable with the structure.
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.
Optical nonreciprocal devices are essential to quantum information processing and communication. We proposed a scheme for optical nonreciprocity via the nonlinear Jaynes–Cummings model in a gain cavity. In addition, the gain cavity is coupled to two fibers with different coupling strengths. In the scheme, the nonlinearity, which is induced by the interaction between a two-level quantum emitter and the cavity field, is enhanced by the cavity gain. Our calculations show that the nonlossy optical nonreciprocity is achievable with high isolation ratio in proper parameter range. Especially, the analytic method further shows the reciprocity broken by the combination of the asymmetric coupling and enhanced nonlinearity.
Optical nonreciprocity is important in photonic information processing to route the optical signal or prevent the reverse flow of noise. By adopting the strong nonlinearity associated with a few atoms in a strongly coupled cavity QED system and an asymmetric cavity configuration, we experimentally demonstrate the nonreciprocal transmission between two counterpropagating light fields with extremely low power. The transmission of 18% is achieved for the forward light field, and the maximum blocking ratio for the reverse light is 30 dB. Though the transmission of the forward light can be maximized by optimizing the impedance matching of the cavity, it is ultimately limited by the inherent loss of the scheme. This nonreciprocity can even occur on a few-photon level due to the high optical nonlinearity of the system. The working power can be flexibly tuned by changing the effective number of atoms strongly coupled to the cavity. The idea and result can be applied to optical chips as optical diodes by using fiber-based cavity QED systems. Our work opens up new perspectives for realizing optical nonreciprocity on a few-photon level based on the nonlinearities of atoms strongly coupled to an optical cavity.
On-chip optical nonreciprocal devices are vital components for integrated photonic systems and scalable quantum information processing. Nonlinear optical isolators and circulators have attracted considerable attention because of their fundamental interest and their important advantages in integrated photonic circuits. However, optical nonreciprocal devices based on Kerr or Kerr-like nonlinearity are subject to dynamical reciprocity when the forward and backward signals coexist simultaneously in a nonlinear system. Here, we theoretically propose a method for realizing on-chip nonlinear isolators and circulators with dynamic nonreciprocity. Dynamic nonreciprocity is achieved via the chiral modulation on the resonance frequency due to coexisting self- and cross-Kerr nonlinearities in an optical ring resonator. This work showing dynamic nonreciprocity with a Kerr nonlinear resonator can be an essential step toward integrated optical isolation.
Abstract Hot atoms can exhibit non-magnetic optical non-reciprocal transmission due to their chiral properties, which are characteristic of most alkali metal atoms. In fact, the nonreciprocity in hot atoms depends on the propagation direction of the coupling field due to the Doppler effect. Herein, the reciprocal to non-reciprocal conversion based on the single- and double-dark states is realized by controlling the bidirectional coupling fields in a three-level electromagnetically induced transparent medium coupled with a ring cavity. Tuning the frequency difference between the two coupling fields causes the multi-frequency-channel reciprocity and nonreciprocity manipulation to occur. The experimental proof can be applied to quantum communications and quantum networks, such as optical transistors, all-optical switching or routing and logic gate operation.