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Optics Letters

Nonlinear optical switch based on coherent perfect absorption

Miaodi Guo, Haifeng Li, Feng-Lei Wang, Chunxiao Zhou, Yajie Wu

Published Jul 5, 2023• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) or reflection (CPR) are methods to realize the extreme manipulation on an optical field. We propose a scheme to operate a bistable switch with convertible CPA and/or CPR. Generally, CPA and CPR occur with different input-field phases. For example, CPA is realized when two input probe beams are in phase; instead, CPR is achieved when they are out of phase. In this scheme, a CPA state can be converted to a CPR state by an incoherent field although two input fields are in phase. When we use the incoherent field as a switching field, the CPA (CPR) state is treated as the closed (open) state. As a result, the switching efficiency can theoretically reach a maximum value, i.e., η = 1. In addition, the switch can be operated in the linear regime with a weak input field, and in the nonlinear or bistable regime with a strong input field. Moreover, the efficiency of the bistable switch is sensitively dependent on the input-field intensity. It provides a potential application of this work on sensitive optical detecting.

DOI
10.1364/ol.497643

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Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) or reflection (CPR) are methods to realize the extreme manipulation on an optical field. We propose a scheme to operate a bistable switch with convertible CPA and/or CPR. Generally, CPA and CPR occur with different input-field phases. For example, CPA is realized when two input probe beams are in phase; instead, CPR is achieved when they are out of phase. In this scheme, a CPA state can be converted to a CPR state by an incoherent field although two input fields are in phase. When we use the incoherent field as a switching field, the CPA (CPR) state is treated as the closed (open) state. As a result, the switching efficiency can theoretically reach a maximum value, i.e., η = 1. In addition, the switch can be operated in the linear regime with a weak input field, and in the nonlinear or bistable regime with a strong input field. Moreover, the efficiency of the bistable switch is sensitively dependent on the input-field intensity. It provides a potential application of this work on sensitive optical detecting.
Abstract Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) and coherent perfect transmission (CPT) are two extreme states arising from the manipulation of optical fields. Generally, CPA and CPT occur under different input-field phases. Therefore, we propose a scheme to realize an all-optical switch based on phase-dependent CPA–CPT conversion. In our proposal, the CPT state and the CPA state are treated as the on state and the off state, respectively. Consequently, the efficiency of this all-optical switch can reach the maximum value of 1. With the introduction of an incoherent pump field, the CPA state can be achieved under a weaker input probe field or can be converted into a CPT state. The results show that the optical switch can operate with weaker fields and can be further optimized by the application of an incoherent field.
We propose and analyze a scheme for tunable coherent perfect absorption (CPA) and near-perfect reflection (near CPR) in a three-level $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$-type atom-cavity system. With electromagnetically-induced-transparency-type interference induced by a coherent coupling laser, it provides a method of tunable near CPR at two-photon resonance. By virtue of different coupling strengths, CPA can be tuned from the linear regime to the nonlinear or bistable regime at a fixed input-field frequency. In addition, the CPA regime can be switched to the near-CPR regime with variable linear absorption or gain by an incoherent pump field. This work suggests a mechanism for manipulation on perfect absorption and reflection theoretically which can potentially be applied to logical gates and optical switches for coherent optical computing and communication.
An experimental work [W. J. Wan, Y. D. Chong, L. Ge, H. Noh, A. D. Stone, and H. Cao, Science 331, 889 (2011)] showed that a resonator that contains a loss medium instead of a gain medium enables coherent perfect absorption (CPA) by interference. Here, we propose an alternative approach to realize such a CPA and coherent perfect transmission (CPT) as well as the switching between CPA and CPT in a cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED) system by applying an external magnetic field. The proposed CPA and CPT scheme is based on the magnetically induced transparency (MIT) configuration, instead of the conventional electromagnetically induced transparency configuration, which offers a sensitive method to tune CPA and CPT and also is conducive to the flexible control of the CPA and CPT scheme. Under the linear and nonlinear excitation regimes, we derive the approximate analytical solutions of the cavity-output power and the CPA criteria of the CQED system, and find that the CPA can occur at different frequencies in both regimes. In the nonlinear excitation regime, the relationship between the cavity-output power and the cavity-input power can show a bistable characteristic by the control of the static magnetic field, and the CPA point is near the turning point of the cavity-input power on the bistable return hysteresis curve. Furthermore, the line shape and the threshold value for optical bistability can be flexibly controlled by varying the magnetic field under experimentally accessible conditions, thus the magnetic field can well tune the CPA. Also, we compare the analytical and numerical results of the cavity-output power in the nonlinear excitation regime, and they are in good agreement. Our results show that the CQED system based on the MIT configuration can be used as a perfect absorber or nearly perfect transmitter, which may have practical applications in optical logic and optical communication devices.
We propose an ultrahigh-efficiency and broadband all-optical switching scheme based on coherent perfect absorption (CPA) in linear and nonlinear excitation regimes in a cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED) system. Two separate atomic transitions are excited simultaneously by two signal fields coupled from two ends of an optical cavity under the collective strong coupling condition. Three polariton eigenstates are produced which can be tuned freely by varying system parameters. The output field intensities of multiple channels are zero when the CPA criterion is satisfied. However, destructive quantum interference can be induced by a free-space weak control laser when it is tuned to be resonant to the polariton state. As a consequence, the CQED system acts as a coherent perfect light absorber/transmitter as the control field is turned on/off the polariton resonances. In particular, the proposed scheme may be used to realize broadband multi-throw all-optical switching in the nonlinear excitation regime. The proposed scheme is useful for constructing all-optical routing, all-optical communication networks and various all-optical logic elements.
We study coherent perfect absorption (CPA) theoretically based on a weakly coupled atom-cavity system with an optically pumped second-order nonlinear crystal (SOC) embedded in the cavity. Our system does not require a strong coupling, which is often needed for CPA in previous studies but is challenging to implement experimentally in some systems. The role of the SOC is to introduce a tunable effective decay rate of the cavity, which can lead to CPA in the weak-coupling regime. The proposed system exhibits bistable behaviors, with bistable patterns switchable between conventional and unconventional shapes. By varying the properties of the SOC, the operation point of CPA can be tuned to be inside or outside the bistable regime. It can also be located at the upper or the lower stable branch or even the unstable branch of the bistable hysteresis loop. It is however robust against the parameters of the SOC for any fixed effective decay rate. Our system can potentially be applied to realize optical devices such as optical switches in the weakly coupled regime.
Abstract A broadband coherent perfect absorption (CPA) scheme consisting of an optical resonator coupled with three-level atoms excited by single cavity mode is proposed and analyzed. We show the output light field from the system is completely suppressed under specific conditions when the system is excited in linear and nonlinear regimes by two identical light fields from two ends of optical cavity. An analytical broadband CPA criterion for central and sideband excitations of cavity quantum electrodynamics system is derived in linear regime. Moreover, we show the resonant excitation criterion for CPA is greatly extended in nonlinear regime. A new type of bistability behavior is found. The output field intensity and the bistability curve can be well tuned by dynamically adjusting system parameters. Our results demonstrate that the CPA is quite universal, and it should be useful in a variety of applications in optical logic and optical communication devices.