无磁光学非互易研究进展

光学非互易器件,例如光隔离器、循环器和移相器等,是全光通信的基本单元,在光学信号处理和量子网络等方面具有重要应用。传统的实现光学非互易的方法是利用法拉第磁光效应,但所需要的强磁场会导致小型化和集成化的困难。因此,部分研究者将目光投向无磁光学非互易的研究。文章介绍了无磁光学非互易的研究现状以及华东理工大学激光物理与量子调控研究室在该方面的一些最新研究工作。

An introduction of magnetic-free optical nonreciprocity

Optical nonreciprocal devices, such as optical isolators, circulators and phase shifts, are basic units of all-optical communications and have important applications in optical signal processing and quantum networks. Standard approaches for optical nonreciprocity make use of magneto-optical properties (e.g. Faraday rotation), which however requires large magnetic fields, and thus makes it difficult for integration on a small scale. To overcome this problem, other magnetic-free approaches have been proposed. In this paper, we will introduce recent developments on magnetic-free optical nonreciprocity, and also our recent research on thermal motion induced optical nonreciprocity and unidirectional amplification.