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Self-induced transparency in a perfectly absorbing chiral second-harmonic generator

Jiankun Hou, Jintian Lin, Jiefu Zhu, Guolin Zhao, Yao Chen, Fangxing Zhang, Yuanlin Zheng, Xianfeng Chen, Ya Cheng, Li Ge, Wenjie Wan

Published Oct 11, 2022• 28 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Transparency and perfect absorption are two contradictory terms; a perfect absorber never permits waves to transmit through. However, this statement only remains true in the linear regime, where the nonlinearity has been omitted and the physical system like the perfect absorber is not affected by the incoming waves. Here we experimentally demonstrate an intriguing self-induced transparency effect in a perfectly absorbing optical microcavity, which perfectly absorbs any incoming waves at the low power level, but allows a portion of waves to be transmitted at the higher power due to the nonlinear coupling between the fundamental and its second harmonic modes. Moreover, the asymmetric scattering nature of the microcavity enables a chiral and unidirectional reflection in one of the input ports, this leads to asymmetric and chiral coherent control of the perfect absorption states through phase varying. More importantly, such chiral behaviors also empower the chiral emission of second-harmonic generation with a high distinct ratio in the transparency state. These results pave the way for controllable transparency in a wide range of fields in optics, microwaves, acoustics, mechanics, and matter waves.

DOI
10.1186/s43074-022-00068-y

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Abstract Transparency and perfect absorption are two contradictory terms; a perfect absorber never permits waves to transmit through. However, this statement only remains true in the linear regime, where the nonlinearity has been omitted and the physical system like the perfect absorber is not affected by the incoming waves. Here we experimentally demonstrate an intriguing self-induced transparency effect in a perfectly absorbing optical microcavity, which perfectly absorbs any incoming waves at the low power level, but allows a portion of waves to be transmitted at the higher power due to the nonlinear coupling between the fundamental and its second harmonic modes. Moreover, the asymmetric scattering nature of the microcavity enables a chiral and unidirectional reflection in one of the input ports, this leads to asymmetric and chiral coherent control of the perfect absorption states through phase varying. More importantly, such chiral behaviors also empower the chiral emission of second-harmonic generation with a high distinct ratio in the transparency state. These results pave the way for controllable transparency in a wide range of fields in optics, microwaves, acoustics, mechanics, and matter waves.
Perfect absorption of light critically affects light-matter interaction for various applications. Coherent perfect absorbers (CPA) gain the unique capability of controlling light with light in a linear fashion. Multi-color CPAs [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 033901] are highly desirable for broadband and nonlinear light-to-light coherent control, however, the experimental demonstration has still remained elusive. Here we experimentally observe a dual-color version of CPA (DC-CPA) through a second harmonic generation in a single whispering-gallery-mode microcavity. The DC-CPA enables simultaneous perfect absorption of both the incoming fundamental wave and its second harmonic. Similar to its linear counterpart, coherent control in the DC-CPA can be also realized by tuning the relative phase and intensity between the two-colored waves through nonlinear interference instead of the linear one. This scheme breaks the linear boundary of the traditional CPA into a multi-frequency domain and paves the way toward all-optically signal processing and quantum information.
Perfect absorption of light critically affects light-matter interaction for various applications. Coherent perfect absorbers (CPAs) gain the unique capability of controlling light with light in a linear fashion. Multicolor CPAs [S. Longhi, Time-reversed optical parametric oscillation, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 033901 (2011)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.107.033901] are highly desirable for broadband and nonlinear light-to-light coherent control but the experimental demonstration has still remained elusive. Here, for the first time, we experimentally observe a dual-color version of a CPA (DC-CPA) through a second harmonic generation in a single whispering-gallery-mode microcavity. The DC-CPA enables simultaneous perfect absorption of both the incoming fundamental wave and its second harmonic. Similar to its linear counterpart, coherent control in the DC-CPA can also be realized by tuning the relative phase and intensity between the two-colored waves through nonlinear interference instead of the linear one. This scheme breaks the linear boundary of the traditional CPA into a multifrequency domain and paves the way toward all-optical signal processing and quantum information.
Two coupled resonance modes can lead to exotic transmission spectra due to internal interference processes. Examples include electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in atoms and mode splitting in optics. The ability to control individual modes plays a crucial role in controlling such transmission spectra for practical applications. Here we experimentally demonstrate a controllable EIT-like mode splitting in a single microcavity using a double-port excitation. The mode splitting caused by internal coupling between two counter-propagating resonances can be effectively controlled by varying the power of the two inputs, as well as their relative phase. Moreover, the presence of asymmetric scattering in the microcavity leads to chiral behaviors in the mode splitting in the two propagating directions, manifesting itself in terms of a Fano-like resonance mode. These results may offer a compact platform for a tunable device in all-optical information processing.
Chirality in micro- and nanophotonic structures is crucial for both fundamental research and applied technology. Here, we experimentally demonstrate chiral absorption via backscattering in a single whispering-gallery microresonator under simultaneous excitation from both ports. Remarkably, this scheme does not rely on any nonlinear effects or the breaking of parity or time-reversal symmetry. These intriguing phenomena occur due to the interference between the clockwise- and counterclockwise-propagating light fields induced by the backscattering. Furthermore, we also achieve the chiral optical states in a coupled-microresonator system, which can be utilized to manipulate the electromagnetically induced transparency or absorption effect. Our work proposes a linear and all-optical scheme to realize chiral optical states, which can help control the light flow in photonic systems with a high operation rate.
We investigate the two-channel nonreciprocal scattering of a coherent atomic ensemble under the linear spatial Kramers-Kronig modulation, which has potential applications in chiral phase modulation and broadband coherent perfect or asymmetric absorbers that yet are typically unavailable in conventional continuous atomic media. In the regime of electromagnetically induced transparency, we observe the direction-dependent (chiral) phase modulation, which may enrich the burgeoning chiral quantum optics and can be used for implementing photonic filters, unidirectional amplifiers, and coherent asymmetric absorbers. By simplifying the stringent generation condition of coherent perfect absorption (CPA), we demonstrate the possibility of realizing two-channel CPA with broadband and sharp edges. Our proposal may be used to design and integrate some all-optical functional devices at extremely low power levels for quantum information processing and optical communication networks.
Recently, a concept of time reversed lasing or coherent perfect absorber (CPA) has been proposed by A. D. Stone and co-workers, and was shortly experimentally demonstrated by them. The CPA system is illuminated coherently and monochromatically by the time reverse of the output of a lasing mode and the incident radiation is perfectly absorbed. Shortly afterwards, Stefano Longhi extended the idea to realize a CPA for colored incident light, and have theoretically shown that the time reversal of optical parametric oscillation (OPO) in a nonlinear medium could also realize a colored CPA for incident signal and idler fields which can be seemed as a kind of nonlinear CPA. Here we present the realization of such time-reversed processes in nonlinear optics regime, including time-reversed second harmonic generation (SHG) for coherent absorption at harmonic frequency of the pump and time-reversed optical parametric amplification (OPA) for coherent attenuation of colored travelling optical fields. Time reversed SHG is carried out at both phase matching and mismatching conditions, which shows parametric near perfect absorption at the harmonic frequency of the pump. The time reversal of OPA is demonstrated experimentally in a nonlinear medium to form a coherent absorber for perpendicularly polarized signal and idler travelling waves, realizing in the condition of OPA by a type II phase matching scheme. The absorption of signal/idler pair occurs at some specific phase difference. This is the first experimental demonstration of coherent absorption processes in nonlinear optics regime.