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optical diode

03.05.2018

Researchers at the US National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have created a first-of-its-kind optical diode made up of light that can be used in miniaturized photonic and photonic-electronic circuits. This optical diode, like its electronic counterpart, transmits light in only one direction, but its main advantage is the small dimensions of the device and the absence of the need for large powerful permanent magnets, which are part of other types of optical diodes.

Diodes are indispensable components of most electronic circuits. They allow electricity to flow in one direction and block the flow of electricity in the opposite direction. This diode function is used in a wide variety of electronics applications, from the detection of extremely weak radio signals to high power power rectifiers capable of converting alternating electrical current into direct current.

The basis of the new optical diode is a ring resonator, a glass ring mounted on the surface of a silicon chip. The size of this ring is approximately the diameter of a human hair, and the diode effect occurs by creating a rotating optical field inside the resonator.

The ring resonator is pumped with light from an external source. "Given the tiny size of the device itself, the power density of the light circulating in the resonator is comparable to the output of all floodlights used to illuminate a large stadium," says Dr. Jonathan Silver (Dr. Jonathan Silver), lead researcher, - "Due to such a high concentration of energy in the resonator in It produces an optical diode, which works due to one of the types of interaction of light with light, called the Kerr effect.

Experiments carried out with the device showed that inside the glass resonators the electromagnetic field rotates clockwise. At the same time, the light supplied to the device in the same direction passes through it unhindered, and the light supplied in the counterclockwise direction is blocked.

"The presence of such a diode opens the way to the creation of low-cost microphotonic circuits and chips that can become the basis of optical computing technologies," says Pascal Del'Haye, one of the researchers, "In addition, new diodes can be used in field of optical telecommunications, enabling more efficient use of existing fiber optic networks.

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