Antilaser: resonance absorption mode or coherent perfect absorption?

Sanjeeb Dey, Suneel Pratap Singh

Michael Avilés, Anthony Mazzocco, Jim Andrews +2 more

Nikolay N. Rosanov

Abstract The main idea of the recent studies of ‘coherent perfect absorption’ is shown to coincide with that published in 1962 by A P Khapalyuk. Generalizing this approach to the case of layered systems with alternating absorbing and amplifying media requires a more thorough analysis of possible instabilities.

Olga A. Kocharovskaya, Francesco Mauri, E. Arimondo

Xinguang Hu, Shuai Yuan, Ammar Armghan +8 more

Abstract We numerically and theoretically show that a narrow-band coherent perfect absorption (CPA) can be realized in simple bright–bright mode coupling metamaterials. By adjusting the geometric parameters of metamaterial structures, the Q factor can reach 102 at 1552.8 nm with absorption exceeding 99.99%. Results show that the small resonant detuning between the two bright modes plays a crucial role in forming the CPA. Dissipation loss is responsible for tailoring the performance of CPA while the coupling strength can be used to tune the CPA resonance point to the expected wavelength. These results show the capability of metamaterials for sensors, coherence filters, modulators and ultrafast optical data processing in coherent networks.

Rikizo Ikuta, Hirokazu Kobayashi, Hiroki Takahashi

Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) extinguishes optical fields through interference and dissipation, but conventional implementations rely on material loss that is largely fixed after fabrication. Here we demonstrate all-optically controllable CPA based on frequency conversion in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide resonator. Pump-driven frequency conversion couples a resonant signal field at 1581 nm in the main system to a non-resonant environmental mode at 780 nm, creating a dynamically tunable effective loss channel. The nonlinear cavity acts as a tunable lossy beamsplitter without intrinsic material absorption. Under coherent two-sided signal injection, we observe up to 92 % absorption. We further introduce environment-assisted CPA by injecting an external field into the frequency-converted environmental mode, turning the environment from a passive loss reservoir into an addressable coherent control port. Our results establish a frequency-conversion-based platform for all-optical control of dissipation in CPA, combining pump-tunable loss with environment-assisted coherent control.