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arXiv · 1706.02218

Transparent Perfect Mirror

Ali K. Jahromi·Soroush Shabahang·H. Esat Kondakci·Seppo Orsilla·Petri Melanen·Ayman F. Abouraddy
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Abstract

A mirror that reflects light fully and yet is transparent appears paradoxical. Current so-called transparent or "one-way" mirrors are not perfectly reflective and thus can be distinguished from a standard mirror. Constructing a transparent "perfect" mirror has profound implications for security, privacy, and camouflage. However, such a hypothetical device cannot be implemented in a passive structure. We demonstrate here a transparent perfect mirror in a non-Hermitian configuration: an active optical cavity where a certain prelasing gain extinguishes Poynting's vector at the device entrance. At this threshold, all vestiges of the cavity's structural resonances are eliminated and the device presents spectrally flat unity-reflectivity, thus, becoming indistinguishable from a perfect mirror when probed optically across the gain bandwidth. Nevertheless, the device is rendered transparent by virtue of persisting amplified transmission resonances. We confirm these predictions in two photonic realizations: a compact integrated active waveguide and a macroscopic all-optical-fiber system.

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Ali K. Jahromi, Soroush Shabahang, H. Esat Kondakci, Seppo Orsilla, Petri Melanen, Ayman F. Abouraddy. 2017-06-07. Transparent Perfect Mirror. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.7b00052

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