• Reflectarrays and metasurface reflectors as diffraction gratings

    Subjects: Optics >> Quantum optics submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Reconfigurable reflectors have a significant potential in future telecommunication systems, and approaches to the design and realization of full and tunable reflection control are now actively studied. Reflectarrays, being the classical approach to realization of scanning reflectors, are based on the phased-array theory (the so-called generalized reflection law) and the physical optics approximation of the reflection response. To overcome the limitations of the reflectarray technology, researchers actively study inhomogeneous metasurfaces, using the theory of diffraction gratings. In order to make these devices tunable and fully realize their potential, it is necessary to unify the two approaches and study reconfigurable reflectors from a unified point of view. Here, we offer a basic tutorial on reflectarrays and reflecting metasufaces, explaining their common fundamental properties that stem from the diffraction theory. This tutorial is suitable for graduate and post-graduate students and hopefully will help to develop more deeper understanding of both phased arrays and diffraction gratings.

  • Geodesic photon coupling and non-Hermitian exceptional point of microcavities on topologically curved space

    Subjects: Optics >> Quantum optics submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Asymmetric microcavities supporting Whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) are of great significance for on-chip optical information processing. We define asymmetric microcavities on topologically curved surfaces, where the geodesic light trajectories completely reconstruct the cavity mode features. The quality factors of the lossy chaotic and island modes in flat cavities can be increased by up to ~200 times by the space curvature. Strong and weak coupling between modes of very different origins occur when the space curvature brings them into resonance, leading to a fine tailoring of the cavity photon energy and lifetime. Finally, we prove that by varying the overall loss, an exceptional point can be clearly observed at which both the cavity photon energy and lifetime become degenerate. Our work is at the crosspoint of optical chaotic dynamics, non-Hermitian physics and geodesic optical devices, and would open the novel area of geodesic microcavity photonics.

  • Loss-difference-induced localization in a non-Hermitian honeycomb photonic lattice

    Subjects: Optics >> Quantum optics submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Non-Hermitian systems with complex-valued energy spectra provide an extraordinary platform for manipulating unconventional dynamics of light. Here, we demonstrate the localization of light in an instantaneously reconfigurable non-Hermitian honeycomb photonic lattice that is established in a coherently-prepared atomic system. One set of the sublattices is optically modulated to introduce the absorptive difference between neighboring lattice sites, where the Dirac points in reciprocal space are extended into dispersionless local flat bands. When these local flat bands are broad enough due to larger loss difference, the incident beam is effectively localized at one set of the lattices with weaker absorption, namely, the commonly seen power exchange between adjacent channels in photonic lattices is effectively prohibited. The current work unlocks a new capability from non-Hermitian two-dimensional photonic lattices and provides an alternative route for engineering tunable local flat bands in photonic structures.

  • Angular-dependent Klein tunneling in photonic graphene

    Subjects: Optics >> Quantum optics submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: The Klein paradox consists in the perfect tunneling of relativistic particles through high potential barriers. As a curious feature of particle physics, it is responsible for the exceptional conductive properties of graphene. It was recently studied in the context of atomic condensates and topological photonics and phononics. While in theory the perfect tunneling holds only for normal incidence, so far the angular dependence of the Klein tunneling and its strong variation with the barrier height were not measured experimentally. In this work, we capitalize on the versatility of atomic vapor cells with paraxial beam propagation and index patterning by electromagnetically-induced transparency. We report the first experimental observation of perfect Klein transmission in a 2D photonic system (photonic graphene) at normal incidence and measure the angular dependence. Counter-intuitively, but in agreement with the Dirac equation, we observe that the decay of the Klein transmission versus angle is suppressed by increasing the barrier height, a key result for the conductivity of graphene and its analogues.

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