Use of a graded gain random amplifier as an optical diode

Single-nanostructure bandgap engineering enabled by magnetic-pulling thermal evaporation growth

Realizing the substantial potential of bottom-up 1D semiconductor nanostructures in developing functional nanodevices calls for dedicated single-nanostructure bandgap engineering by various growth approaches. Although thermal evaporation has been advised as a facile approach for most semiconductors to form 1D nanostructures from bottom-up, its capability of achieving single-nanostructure bandgap engineering was considered a challenge. In 2011, we succeeded in the direct growth of composition-graded CdS1-x Se x (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) nanowires by upgrading the thermal-evaporation tube furnace with a home-made magnetic-pulling module. This report aims to provide a comprehensive review of the latest advances in the single-nanostructure bandgap engineering enabled by the magnetic-pulling thermal evaporation growth. The report begins with the description of different magnetic-pulling thermal evaporation strategies associated with diverse examples of composition-engineered 1D nanostructures. Following is an elaboration on their optoelectronic applications based on the resulting single-nanostructure bandgap engineering, including monolithic white-light sources, proof-of-concept asymmetric light propagation and wavelength splitters, monolithic multi-color and white-light lasers, broadband-response photodetectors, high-performance transistors, and recently the most exciting single-nanowire spectrometer. In the end, this report concludes with some personal perspectives on the directions toward which future research might be advanced.

Broadband asymmetric light transmission through tapered metallic gratings at visible frequencies

Asymmetric transmission phenomenon has attracted tremendous research interest due to its potential applications in integrated photonic systems. Broadband asymmetric transmission (BAT) is a highly desirable but challenging functionality to achieve in the visible regime due to the limitation of material dispersion. In this paper, we propose and numerically demonstrate that a tapered-metal-grating structure (TMGS) can achieve high-contrast BAT spectra covering the entire visible region. The transmission efficiency reaches ~95% for the forward illumination and ~35% for the backward illumination at the same wavelengths, respectively, and the corresponding transmission ratio is larger than 2.5 over a broadband wavelength regime. Such a design with high performance suggests applications for unidirectional optical transmission, optical diode, and so on.

Multipolar interference for non-reciprocal nonlinear generation

We show that nonlinear multipolar interference allows achieving not only unidirectional, but also non-reciprocal nonlinear generation from a nanoelement, with the direction of the produced light decoupled from the direction of at least one of the excitation beams. Alternatively, it may allow inhibiting the specified nonlinear response in a nanoelement or in its periodic arrangement by reversing the direction of one of the pumps. These general phenomena exploit the fact that, contrary to the linear response case, nonlinear magneto-electric interference stems from a combination of additive and multiplicative processes and includes an interference between various terms within the electric and magnetic partial waves themselves. We demonstrate the introduced concept numerically using an example of a plasmonic dimer geometry with realistic material parameters.

Nonreciprocal optical transmission through a single conical air hole in an Ag film

In this paper, we propose a simple metal micro-nano structure having the character of nonreciprocal optical zero-order transmission. The structure is a single conical air hole (CAH) in an Ag film whose optical absorption with geometric asymmetry breaks the time reversal symmetry of the electromagnetic field. By comparing the transmissions of Ag CAH with those of ideal conductor (IC) CAH, three effects of Ag CAH, including diffraction, Fabry-Perot-like (FPL) resonance and localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance, are analyzed and discussed. Under optimized conditions, we find that the ratio of forward transmission to backward one can be larger than 9 at a proper wavelength in visible range. This kind of Ag CAH is expected to have the potential served as all-optical diode.

Optical isolator based on the electro-optic effect in periodically poled lithium niobate with the addition of a half domain

We propose an optical isolator based on the electro-optic (EO) effect of periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN). When the EO effect occurs in PPLN under a TE field, each domain serves as a half-wave plate under the quasi-phase-matching condition, and PPLN shows optical activity similar to quartz. The introduction of an additional half-domain to the normal PPLN changes the incident azimuth angle of the reflected light. As a result, the reflected light does not return to the original polarization state. Thus, the optical rotation accumulates and optical isolation occurs. The isolator can be employed for all linearly polarized light and has the advantage of being used in a weak-light system with low driving voltage and high isolation contrast.

Asymmetric light propagation in composition-graded semiconductor nanowires

Asymmetric light propagation is crucial to the development of optical-based functional components in nanophotonics. Diverse configurations and structures have been proposed to allow asymmetrical propagation of photonic signal, but on-chip integration is difficult to achieve due to their complex structure and/or relatively large footprint. Here we report the first design and realization of asymmetric light propagation in single semiconductor nanowires with a composition gradient along the length. We show the asymmetric nanowire waveguides can be synthesized using a simple thermal evaporation and vapor transport approach without involving complicated and costly fabrication processes. Our studies demonstrate the asymmetric nanowire waveguides offer some significant advantages over previous designs, including ultra-low operation power, tunable working wavelength and nanoscale footprint, making them attractive building blocks for integrated photonic circuits.

On-chip optical diode based on silicon photonic crystal heterojunctions

Optical isolation is a long pursued object with fundamental difficulty in integrated photonics. As a step towards this goal, we demonstrate the design, fabrication, and characterization of on-chip wavelength-scale optical diodes that are made from the heterojunction between two different silicon two-dimensional square-lattice photonic crystal slabs with directional bandgap mismatch and different mode transitions. The measured transmission spectra show considerable unidirectional transmission behavior, in good agreement with numerical simulations. The experimental realization of on-chip optical diodes with wavelength-scale size using all-dielectric, passive, and linear silicon photonic crystal structures may help to construct on-chip optical logical devices without nonlinearity or magnetism, and would open up a road towards photonic computers.

Single-photon diode by exploiting the photon polarization in a waveguide

A single-photon optical diode operates on individual photons and allows unidirectional propagation of photons. By exploiting the unique polarization configuration in a waveguide, we show here that a single-photon optical diode can be accomplished by coupling a quantum impurity to a passive, linear optical waveguide which possesses a locally planar, circular polarization. We further show that the diode provides a near unitary contrast for an input pulse with finite frequency bandwidth and can be implemented in a variety of types of waveguides. Moreover, the performance of the diode is not sensitive to the intrinsic dissipation of the quantum impurity.

Unidirectional optical transmission in dual-metal gratings in the absence of anisotropic and nonlinear materials

We predict the unidirectional optical transmission in dual-metal grating structures composed of two gratings with different structures in the absence of anisotropy and nonlinearity. The zero-order unidirectional transmission is achieved. Based on the unique property and by modulating the structural parameters, the transmittance approaches to 0% and 60% in the two opposite directions, respectively.

All-optical isolation by directional coupling

A nonlinear phase defect inserted in a coherent coupler can realize an effective all-optical diode. Basic features, design criteria, and suggested implementations are discussed with reference to Kerr-like media.

Electro-tunable optical diode based on photonic bandgap liquid-crystal heterojunctions

Manipulation of light is in strong demand in information technologies. Among the wide range of linear and nonlinear optical devices that have been used, growing attention has been paid to photonic crystals that possess a periodic modulation of dielectric function. Among many photonic bandgap (PBG) structures, liquid crystals with periodic structures are very attractive as self-assembled photonic crystals, leading to optical devices such as dye lasers. Here we report a new hetero-PBG structure consisting of an anisotropic nematic layer sandwiched between two cholesteric liquid-crystal layers with different helical pitches. We optically visualized the dispersion relation of this structure, displaying the optical diode performance: that is, the non-reciprocal transmission of circular polarized light at the photonic-bandgap regions. Transmittance spectra with circularly polarized light also reveal the diode performance, which is well simulated in calculations that include an electro-tunable diode effect. Lasing action was also confirmed to show the diode effect with a particular directionality.

Bistable diode action in left-handed periodic structures

We study nonlinear transmission of an asymmetric multilayer structure created by alternating slabs of two materials with positive and negative refractive indices. We demonstrate that such a structure exhibits passive spatially nonreciprocal transmission of electromagnetic waves, the analog of the electronic diode. We study the properties of this left-handed diode and confirm its highly nonreciprocal and bistable transmittance by employing direct simulations.