Switching of the direction of reflectionless light propagation at exceptional points in non-PT-symmetric structures using phase-change materials
Abstract
We introduce a non-parity-time-symmetric three-layer structure, consisting of a gain medium layer sandwiched between two phase-change medium layers for switching of the direction of reflectionless light propagation. We show that for this structure unidirectional reflectionlessness in the forward direction can be switched to unidirectional reflectionlessness in the backward direction at the optical communication wavelength by switching the phase-change material Ge_2Sb_2Te_5 (GST) from its amorphous to its crystalline phase. We also show that it is the existence of exceptional points for this structure with GST in both its amorphous and crystalline phases which leads to unidirectional reflectionless propagation in the forward direction for GST in its amorphous phase, and in the backward direction for GST in its crystalline phase. Our results could be potentially important for developing a new generation of compact active free-space optical devices.
Additional Information
© 2017 Optical Society of America. Received 13 Sep 2017; revised 11 Oct 2017; accepted 18 Oct 2017; published 23 Oct 2017. Funding: Foundation of the Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province (GD201601); Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2017JJ3375); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (61605252, 61422506); National Science Foundation (NSF) (1254934).Attached Files
Published - oe-25-22-27283.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 83282
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20171117-082744049
- GD201601
- Guangdong Province
- 2017JJ3375
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 61605252
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 61422506
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- 1254934
- NSF
- Ministry of Education (China)
- Created
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2017-11-20Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field