Open AccessInverse-design of non-Hermitian potentials for on-demand asymmetric reflectivity
Author(s) -
W. W. Ahmed,
R. Herrero,
Muriel Botey,
Ying Wu,
Kęstutis Staliūnas
Publication year - 2021
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.421610
Subject(s) - optics , refractive index , permittivity , inverse , broadband , reflection (computer programming) , planar , hermitian matrix , dielectric , photonics , materials science , computer science , physics , optoelectronics , mathematics , geometry , computer graphics (images) , quantum mechanics , programming language
We propose a genetic algorithm-assisted inverse design approach to achieve 'on- demand' light transport in periodic and non-periodic planar structures containing dielectric and gain-loss layers. The optimization algorithm efficiently produces non-Hermitian potentials from any arbitrarily given real (or imaginary) permittivity distribution for the desired frequency selective and broadband asymmetric reflectivity. Indeed, we show that the asymmetric response is directly related to the area occupied by the obtained permittivity distribution in the complex plane. In particular, unidirectional light reflection can be designed in such a way that it switches from left to right (or vice versa) depending on the operating frequency. Moreover, such controllable unidirectional reflectivity is realized using a stack of dielectric layers while keeping the refractive index and gain-loss within realistic values. We believe this proposal will benefit the integrated photonics with frequency selective one-way communication.