arXiv subjects

Shanhui Fan

Publications and source records attributed to Shanhui Fan.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Exceptional contours and band structure design in parity-time symmetric photonic crystals

We investigate the properties of multidimensional parity-time symmetric periodic systems whose non-Hermitian periodicity is an integer multiple of the underlying Hermitian system's periodicity. This creates a natural set of degeneracies which can undergo thresholdless $\mathcal{PT}$ transitions. We derive a $\mathbf{k} \cdot \mathbf{p}$ perturbation theory suited to the continuous eigenvalues of such systems in terms of the modes of the underlying Hermitian system. In photonic crystals, such thresholdless $\mathcal{PT}$ transitions are shown to yield significant control over the band structure of the system, and can result in all-angle supercollimation, a $\mathcal{PT}$-superprism effect, and unidirectional behavior.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Photonic gauge potential in a system with a synthetic frequency dimension

We generalize the concept of photonic gauge potential in real space, by introducing an additional "synthetic" frequency dimension in addition to the real space dimensions. As an illustration we consider a one-dimensional array of ring resonators, each supporting a set of resonant modes having a frequency comb with spacing $Ω$, undergoing a refractive index modulation at the modulation frequency equal to $Ω$. We show that the modulation phase provides a gauge potential in the synthetic two-dimensional space with the dimensions being the frequency and the spatial axes. Such gauge potential can create a topologically protected one-way edge state in the synthetic space that is useful for high-efficiency generation of higher-order side bands.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Near-field radiative heat transfer between nanostructures in the deep sub-wavelength regime

Radiative heat transfer between parallel objects separated by deep sub-wavelength distances and subject to large thermal gradients (>100 K) could enable breakthrough technologies for electricity generation and thermal transport control. However, thermal transport in this regime has never been achieved experimentally due to the difficulty of maintaining large thermal gradients over nm-scale distances while avoiding other heat transfer mechanism such as conduction. Previous experimental measurement between parallel planes were limited to distances greater than 500 nm (with a 20 K thermal gradient), which is much larger than the theoretically predicted distance (<100 nm) required for most applications. Here we show near-field radiative heat transfer between parallel nanostructures in the deep sub-wavelength regime using high precision micro electromechanical (MEMS) displacement control. We also exploit the high mechanical stability of structures under high tensile stress to minimize thermal buckling effects and maintain small separations at large thermal gradients. We achieve an enhancement of heat transfer of almost two orders of magnitude relative to the far-field limit, which corresponds to a 54 nm separation. We also achieve a high temperature gradient (260 K) between the cold and hot surfaces while maintaining a ~100 nm distance.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Topologically non-trivial Floquet band structure in a system undergoing photonic transitions in the ultra-strong coupling regime

We consider a system of dynamically-modulated photonic resonator lattice undergoing photonic transition, and show that in the ultra-strong coupling regime such a lattice can exhibit non-trivial topological properties, including topologically non-trivial band gaps, and the associated topologically-robust one-way edge states. Compared with the same system operating in the regime where the rotating wave approximation is valid, operating the system in the ultra-strong coupling regime results in one-way edge modes that has a larger bandwidth, and is less susceptible to loss. Also, in the ultra-strong coupling regime, the system undergoes a topological insulator-to-metal phase transition as one varies the modulation strength. This phase transition has no counter part in systems satisfying the rotating wave approximation, and its nature is directly related to the non-trivial topology of the quasi-energy space.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Planar immersion lens with metasurfaces

The solid immersion lens is a powerful optical tool that allows light entering material from air or vacuum to focus to a spot much smaller than the free-space wavelength. Conventionally, however, they rely on semispherical topographies and are non-planar and bulky, which limits their integration in many applications. Recently, there has been considerable interest in using planar structures, referred to as metasurfaces, to construct flat optical components for manipulating light in unusual ways. Here, we propose and demonstrate the concept of a planar immersion lens based on metasurfaces. The resulting planar device, when placed near an interface between air and dielectric material, can focus electromagnetic radiation incident from air to a spot in material smaller than the free-space wavelength. As an experimental demonstration, we fabricate an ultrathin and flexible microwave lens and further show that it achieves wireless energy transfer in material mimicking biological tissue.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Input-Output Formalism for Few-Photon Transport: A Systematic Treatment Beyond Two Photons

We provide a systematic treatment of $N$-photon transport in a waveguide coupled to a local system, using the input-output formalism. The main result of the paper is a general connection between the $N$-photon S matrix and the Green functions of the local system. We also show that the computation can be significantly simplified, by exploiting the connectedness structure of both the S matrix and the Green function, and by computing the Green function using an effective Hamiltonian that involves only the degrees of freedom of the local system. We illustrate our formalism by computing $N$-photon transport through a cavity containing a medium with Kerr nonlinearity, with $N$ up to 3.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Dynamic localization of light from a time-dependent effective gauge field for photons

We introduce a method to achieve three-dimensional dynamic localization of light. We consider a dynamically-modulated resonator lattice that has been previously shown to exhibit an effective gauge potential for photons. When such an effective gauge potential varies sinusoidally in time, dynamic localization of light can be achieved. Moreover, while previous works on such effective gauge potential for photons were carried out in the regime where the rotating wave approximation is valid, the effect of dynamic localization persists even when the counter-rotating term is taken into count.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

Directional perfect absorption using deep subwavelength low permittivity films

We experimentally demonstrate single beam directional perfect absorption (to within experimental accuracy) of p-polarized light in the near-infrared using unpatterned, deep subwavelength films of indium tin oxide (ITO) on Ag. The experimental perfect absorption occurs slightly above the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) frequency of ITO where the permittivity is less than one. Remarkably, we obtain perfect absorption for films whose thickness is as low as ~1/50th of the operating free-space wavelength and whose single pass attenuation is only ~ 5%. We further derive simple analytical conditions for perfect absorption in the subwavelength-film regime that reveal the constraints that the ITO permittivity must satisfy if perfect absorption is to be achieved. Then, to get a physical insight on the perfect absorption properties, we analyze the eigenmodes of the layered structure by computing both the real-frequency/complex-wavenumber and the complex-frequency/real-wavenumber modal dispersion diagrams. These analyses allow us to attribute the experimental perfect absorption behavior to the crossover between bound and leaky behavior of one eigenmode of the layered structure. Both modal methods show that perfect absorption occurs at a frequency slightly larger than the ENZ frequency, in agreement with experimental results, and both methods predict a second perfect absorption condition at higher frequencies attributed to another crossover between bound and leaky behavior of the same eigenmode. Our results greatly expand the list of materials that can be considered for use as ultrathin perfect absorbers and also provide a methodology for the design of absorber systems at any desired frequency.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

Spatial control of surface plasmon polariton excitation at planar metal surface

We illustrate that the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) excitation through the prism coupling method is fundamentally limited by destructive interference of spatial light components. We propose that the destructive interference can be canceled out by tailoring the relative phase for the different spatial components. As a numerical demonstration, we show that through the phase modulation the excited SPP field is concentrated to a hot energy spot, and the SPP field intensity is dramatically enhanced about three folds in comparison with a conventional Gaussian beam illumination.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Photonic de Haas-van Alphen effect

Based on the recently proposed concept of effective gauge potential and magnetic field for photons, we numerically demonstrate a photonic de Haas-van Alphen effect. We show that in a dynamically modulated photonic resonator lattice exhibiting an effect magnetic field, the trajectories of the light beam at a given frequency have the same shape as the constant energy contour for the photonic band structure of the lattice in the absence of the effective magnetic field.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Controlling the flow of light using the inhomogeneous effective gauge field that emerges from dynamic modulation

We show that the effective gauge field for photons provides a versatile platform for controlling the flow of light. As an example we consider a photonic resonator lattice where the coupling strength between nearest neighbor resonators are harmonically modulated. By choosing different spatial distributions of the modulation phases, and hence imposing different inhomogeneous effective magnetic field configurations, we numerically demonstrate a wide variety of propagation effects including negative refraction, one-way mirror, and on and off-axis focusing. Since the effective gauge field is imposed dynamically after a structure is constructed, our work points to the importance of the temporal degree of freedom for controlling the spatial flow of light.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Observation of an Effective Magnetic field for Light

Photons are neutral particles that do not interact directly with a magnetic field. However, recent theoretical work has shown that an effective magnetic field for photons can exist if the phase of light would change with its propagating direction. This direction-dependent phase indicates the presence of an effective magnetic field as shown for electrons experimentally in the Aharonov-Bohm experiment. Here we replicate this experiment using photons. In order to create this effective magnetic field, we construct an on-chip silicon-based Ramsey-type interferometer. This interferometer has been traditionally used to probe the phase of atomic states, and here we apply it to probe the phase of photonic states. We experimentally observe a phase change, i.e. an effective magnetic field flux from 0 to 2pi. In an Aharonov-Bohm configuration for electrons, considering the device geometry, this flux corresponds to an effective magnetic field of 0.2 Gauss.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Nonreciprocal light transmission in parity-time-symmetric whispering-gallery microcavities

Optical systems combining balanced loss and gain profiles provide a unique platform to implement classical analogues of quantum systems described by non-Hermitian parity-time- (PT-) symmetric Hamiltonians and to originate new synthetic materials with novel properties. To date, experimental works on PT-symmetric optical systems have been limited to waveguides in which resonances do not play a role. Here we report the first demonstration of PT-symmetry breaking in optical resonator systems by using two directly coupled on-chip optical whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microtoroid silica resonators. Gain in one of the resonators is provided by optically pumping Erbium (Er3+) ions embedded in the silica matrix; the other resonator exhibits passive loss. The coupling strength between the resonators is adjusted by using nanopositioning stages to tune their distance. We have observed reciprocal behavior of the PT-symmetric system in the linear regime, as well as a transition to nonreciprocity in the PT symmetry-breaking phase transition due to the significant enhancement of nonlinearity in the broken-symmetry phase. Our results represent a significant advance towards a new generation of synthetic optical systems enabling on-chip manipulation and control of light propagation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

An optical equilibrium in lateral waveguide-resonator optical force

We consider the lateral optical force between resonator and waveguide, and study the possibility of an equilibrium that occurs solely from the optical force. We prove analytically that a single- resonance system cannot give such an equilibrium in resonator-waveguide force. We then show that two-resonance systems can provide such an equilibrium. We provide an intuitive way to predict the existence of an equilibrium, and give numerical examples.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Comment on "Linear and passive silicon optical isolator" in Scientific Reports 2, 674

Wang et al. [1] demonstrated different power transmission coefficients for forward and backward propagation in simulation and experiment. From such a demonstration, the central claim of their paper is that "the spatial inversion symmetry breaking diode can construct an optical isolator in no conflict with any reciprocal principle". Their claim contradicts the Lorentz reciprocity theorem, from which it is well known that one cannot construct an isolator this way.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2012

Thermal extraction: enhancing thermal emission of finite size macroscopic blackbody to far-field vacuum

The understanding of far-field thermal radiation had directly led to the discovery of quantum mechanics a century ago, and is of great current practical importance for applications in energy conversions, radiative cooling, and thermal control. It is commonly assumed that for any macroscopic thermal emitter, its maximal emitted power within any given frequency range cannot exceed that of a blackbody with the same surface area. In contrast to such conventional wisdom, here we propose, and experimentally demonstrate, that the emitted power from a finite size macroscopic blackbody to far field vacuum can be significantly enhanced, within the constraint of the second law of thermodynamics. To achieve such an enhancement, the thermal body needs to have internal electromagnetic density of states (DOS) greater than that of vacuum, and one needs to provide a thermal extraction mechanism to enable the contributions of all internal modes to far field radiation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2012

Few-photon single-atom cavity QED with input-output formalism in Fock Space

The Jaynes-Cummings (JC) system, which describes the interaction between a cavity and a two-level atom, is one of the most important systems in quantum optics. We obtain analytic solutions for the one- and two-photon transport in a waveguide side-coupled to the JC system using input-output formalism in Fock space. With these results, we discuss the conditions under which the JC system functions as a photon switch for waveguide photons in both the strong and weak coupling regimes

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Two-photon transport through a waveguide coupling to a whispering gallery resonator containing an atom and photon-blockade effect

We investigate the two-photon transport through a waveguide side-coupling to a whispering-gallery-atom system. Using the Lehmann-Symanzik-Zimmermann (LSZ) reduction approach, we present the general formula for the two-photon processes including the two-photon scattering matrices, the wavefunctions and the second order correlation functions of the out-going photons. Based on the exact results of the second order correlation functions, we analyze the quantum statistics behaviors of the out-going photons for two different cases: (a) the ideal case without the inter-modal coupling in the whispering gallery resonator; (b) the case in the presence of the inter-modal coupling which leads to more complex nonlinear behavior. In the ideal case, we show that the system consists of two independent scattering pathways, a free pathway by a cavity mode without atomic excitation, and a "Jaynes-Cummings" pathway described by the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian of a single-mode cavity coupling to an atom. The free pathway does not contribution to correlated two-photon processes. In the presence of intermodal mixing, the system no longer exhibit a free resonant pathway. Instead, both the single-photon and the two photon transport properties depend on the position of the atom. Thus, in the presence of intermodal mixing one can in fact tune the photon correlation properties by changing the position of the atom. Our formalism can be used to treat resonator and cavity dissipation as well.

quant-ph↗