Indexed by: Journal paper

Journal: Physical Review B

Affiliation of Author(s): 光电学院，国家光电研究中心

Place of Publication: 美国

Discipline: 物理学

Funded by: 自然科学基金

Document Type: J

Volume: 103

Issue: 9

Key Words: 无

DOI number: 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.094105

Date of Publication: 2021-03-02

Teaching and Research Group: c716

Abstract: Optical isolation enables nonreciprocal manipulations of light with broad applications in optical communications. Optical isolation by rotating structures has drawn considerable attention due to its magnetic-free nature and unprecedented performance. Conventional rotation-based optical isolation relies on the use of bulky cavities hindering applications in subwavelength photonics. Here, we propose a mechanism of optical isolation by integrating the unique dispersion of a hyperbolic metamaterial with the transverse spin-orbit interaction of evanescent waves. We show that rotation of a subwavelength hyperbolic nanoparticle breaks the time-reversal symmetry and yields two resonant chiral modes that selectively couple to the transverse spin of waveguide modes. Remarkably, the transverse spin-orbit interaction can give rise to unidirectional coupling and more than 95% isolation of infrared light at an experimentally feasible rotation speed. Our work fuses the two important fields of optical isolation and photonic spin-orbit interactions, leading to magnetic-free yet compact nonreciprocal devices for applications in optical communications, chiral quantum optics, and topological photonics.

Note: 无

Links to published journals: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.094105