Disclosure of Invention
Accordingly, there is a need for a unidirectional slow optical defect waveguide structure and a non-reciprocal device based on magnetic photonic crystal that can effectively reduce the group velocity of electromagnetic waves while maintaining a certain bandwidth.
A unidirectional slow light defect waveguide structure based on magnetic photonic crystals comprises a first dielectric column and a second dielectric column, wherein the first dielectric column and the second dielectric column are provided with a plurality of columns; the material of the first dielectric columns is ferromagnetic material, and a plurality of the first dielectric columns are arranged in at least one row; the second medium columns are made of magneto-optical materials, and a plurality of second medium columns are distributed on two sides of the first medium columns arranged in a row and are periodically arranged on two sides to form two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystals.
In one embodiment, the material of the second dielectric pillar is yttrium iron garnet.
In one embodiment, the radius of the second dielectric column is 0.106 times the lattice constant of the two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal.
In one embodiment, a plurality of the first dielectric pillars are arranged in a row.
In one embodiment, the distance between the central axes of the adjacent first dielectric pillars is equal to the lattice constant of the two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal.
In one embodiment, the distance between the central axes of the adjacent first dielectric columns and the second dielectric columns is equal to the lattice constant of the two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal.
In one embodiment, the radius of the first dielectric pillar is 0.19 times the lattice constant of the two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal.
In one embodiment, the refractive index of the first dielectric cylinder is 1.5.
In one embodiment, the material of the first dielectric pillar is selected from at least one of iron, cobalt and nickel.
A non-reciprocal device comprising a unidirectional slow optical defect waveguide structure based on a magnetic photonic crystal as described in any of the above embodiments.
According to the unidirectional slow light defect waveguide structure based on the magnetic photonic crystal and the nonreciprocal device comprising the unidirectional slow light defect waveguide structure, the defect structure is formed by inserting the first dielectric columns arranged in a row into the magnetic photonic crystal, when a magnetic field is applied to the two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal area formed by the second dielectric columns on two sides of the first dielectric columns, for example, opposite external bias magnetic fields are applied in the + Z direction, two unidirectional boundary modes with the same direction can be formed to form forward coupling, and unidirectional transmission and slow light characteristics of electromagnetic waves can be realized. In addition, the one-way slow light defect waveguide structure overcomes the problems of large volume, large damage and difficult integration of traditional optical reciprocity devices such as an optical isolator and the like, and has wide market application value in nonreciprocal devices such as an optical communication device and the like.
Detailed Description
To facilitate an understanding of the invention, the invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
As shown in fig. 1, an embodiment of a unidirectional slow optical defect waveguide structure 10 based on a magnetic photonic crystal includes a first dielectric pillar 100 and a second dielectric pillar 200. There are a plurality of first media columns 100 and a plurality of second media columns 200. The material of the first dielectric pillar 100 is a ferromagnetic material. The plurality of first media columns 100 are arranged in at least one row. The second dielectric columns 200 are made of magneto-optical materials, and a plurality of second dielectric columns 200 are distributed on two sides of the first dielectric columns 100 arranged in a row and are periodically arranged on two sides to form a two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal.
In the present embodiment, the material of the second dielectric column 200 may be, but is not limited to, a magneto-optical material such as Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG). The lattice constant of the two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal is a, that is, the distance between the central axes of the adjacent second dielectric pillars 200 is a. The radius of the second media column 200 is preferably, but not limited to, 0.106 a.
In the present embodiment, a plurality of first dielectric pillars 100 are arranged in a row. The first dielectric pillar 100 is made of a common magnetic material, such as at least one ferromagnetic material selected from iron, cobalt, and nickel. The distance between the central axes of the adjacent first dielectric columns 100 is equal to the lattice constant of the two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal, i.e., the distance between the central axes of the adjacent first dielectric columns 100 is also a. The distance between the central axes of the adjacent first media columns 100 and second media columns 200 is equal to a.
Further, in the present embodiment, through experimental studies, the radius of the first dielectric cylinder 100 is preferably 0.19a, and the first dielectric cylinder 100 is preferably made of a material with a refractive index of 1.5, so that the slow light characteristic can be improved, and the group velocity of the electromagnetic wave can be improved.
In order to introduce a defect structure into a periodically arranged two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal, the present embodiment forms a defect waveguide structure by replacing the middle second dielectric column 200 with the first dielectric columns 100 arranged in a column in a conventional two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal. In order to realize group velocities in the same direction and thus form a waveguide structure with unidirectional transmission by forward coupling of unidirectional electromagnetic boundary modes, opposite external bias magnetic fields are applied to the + Z direction of the second dielectric pillars 200 on both sides of the first dielectric pillars 100 in the row, for example, a positive direction magnetic field is applied to one side of the external bias magnetic fields, and a negative direction magnetic field is applied to the other side of the external bias magnetic fields, so that electromagnetic waves can be transmitted in the defective waveguide in a unidirectional manner.
The second dielectric pillars 200 at both sides of the first dielectric pillar 100 add magnetic fields in different directions to constitute two unidirectional boundary modes in the same direction, and the coupling between the two unidirectional boundary modes in the same direction is the forward coupling of the unidirectional boundary modes. A unidirectional air waveguide can be realized by utilizing this characteristic. This example uses Comsol software to simulate the dispersion map of the structure shown in fig. 1, with the results shown in fig. 2.
Four different frequencies on the dispersion curve of fig. 2 were chosen for simulation, corresponding to P1 (0; 0.5267), P2 (0.05; 0.5314), P3 (0.15; 0.542), and P4 (0.25; 0.5492), respectively. Fig. 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d) show the corresponding electric field components for these four frequency points, respectively, wherein the white five-pointed star marks the current source and the dark grey stripes or dot-like patterns represent the positive and negative electric field components. The results of fig. 3 show significant unidirectional transmission characteristics, but further comparing the graphs, it can be readily seen that the frequency P1 is similar to a passband mode because it is relatively close to the passband region, and the waveguide does not have any constraint on the optical waves at this frequency, which can be transmitted inside the photonic crystal. In contrast, the P2 frequency is relatively far from the passband, the waveguide has enhanced confinement to the light wave, and the light wave is transmitted inside the waveguide. For electromagnetic waves of frequencies P3 and P4, the confinement effect of the waveguide is further enhanced and light propagates mainly concentrated inside the waveguide.
Fig. 4 shows an energy flow diagram of an electromagnetic wave, and as a result, shows that the energy flow directions of the upper and lower second dielectric pillars 200 are opposite, and the one-way propagation characteristic of the electromagnetic wave is visually shown.
The present example further investigated the slow light characteristics of the above structure. The group velocity of the electromagnetic wave is improved by changing the radius size and the material characteristics of the dielectric column. Fig. 5 shows dispersion curves for different media column radii, and it is readily seen that as the media column radius decreases from 0.19a to 0.12a, the corresponding dispersion curve also gradually increases, and the smoothness of the front section of the curve significantly decreases. By the formula
The corresponding group velocity curves for different radius sizes were calculated and the results are shown in fig. 6. As can be seen from fig. 6, when the radius of the dielectric pillar is 0.19a, the group velocity value is generally stable and close to zero. And after the radius of the medium column is reduced, the group velocity becomes large.
Keeping the radius of the dielectric cylinder to be 0.19a, the present embodiment also adopts different materials to study the dependency relationship between the group velocity and the refractive index. Fig. 7 shows the calculation results, and it is easily found from fig. 7 that in the case where the radius of the dielectric cylinder is 0.19a, the case where n is 1.5 is preferable, and the group velocity change is relatively small and gradual.
In conclusion, by adopting the magnetic photonic crystal waveguide and optimizing the material structure parameters, the unidirectional transmission and the slow light characteristic of the electromagnetic wave can be realized simultaneously, and the research result has theoretical and application values.
In the unidirectional slow light defect waveguide structure 10 based on the magnetic photonic crystal of the present embodiment, the defect structure is formed by inserting the first dielectric pillars 100 arranged in a column into the magnetic photonic crystal, and when a magnetic field is applied to the two-dimensional magnetic photonic crystal region formed by the second dielectric pillars 200 at both sides of the first dielectric pillars 100, for example, an opposite external bias magnetic field is applied in the + Z direction, two unidirectional boundary modes with the same direction can be formed to form forward coupling, so that unidirectional transmission of electromagnetic waves and slow light characteristics can be realized. In addition, the one-way slow light defect waveguide structure overcomes the problems of large volume, large damage and difficult integration of traditional optical reciprocity devices such as an optical isolator and the like, and has wide market application value in nonreciprocal devices such as an optical communication device and the like.
The technical features of the embodiments described above may be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments described above are not described, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.
The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.