Open AccessNonreciprocal optical diffraction by a single layer of gyromagnetic cylinders
Author(s) -
Tianjing Guo,
Teng-Fei Li,
Mengying Yang,
Hai-Xu Cui,
Qinghua Guo,
Xun Cao,
Jing Chen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.22.000537
Subject(s) - diffraction , optics , physics , zeeman effect , reflection (computer programming) , excited state , dipole , angular momentum , atomic physics , classical mechanics , quantum mechanics , magnetic field , computer science , programming language
We study the diffraction of optical waves by a single layer of gyromagnetic cylinders. We show that a nonvanishing rotating dipole momentum is excited in a single gyromagnetic cylinder because of the classic analog of the Zeeman effect on photonic angular momentum states (PAMSs). Consequently, different collective dipole modes are excited in a gyromagnetic cylinder array at opposite incident angles. Nonreciprocal optical diffraction effects can be observed, where the transmission and reflection coefficients depend on the sign of the incident angle. A novel phenomenon of nonreciprocal negative directional transmission is demonstrated and numerically analyzed. This work highlights the potential of PAMSs in manipulating the propagation of optical waves for various applications.