Single-photon diode by exploiting the photon polarization in a waveguide

A single-photon optical diode operates on individual photons and allows unidirectional propagation of photons. By exploiting the unique polarization configuration in a waveguide, we show here that a single-photon optical diode can be accomplished by coupling a quantum impurity to a passive, linear o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2011-10, Vol.107 (17), p.173902-173902, Article 173902
Main Authors: Shen, Yuecheng, Bradford, Matthew, Shen, Jung-Tsung
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:A single-photon optical diode operates on individual photons and allows unidirectional propagation of photons. By exploiting the unique polarization configuration in a waveguide, we show here that a single-photon optical diode can be accomplished by coupling a quantum impurity to a passive, linear optical waveguide which possesses a locally planar, circular polarization. We further show that the diode provides a near unitary contrast for an input pulse with finite frequency bandwidth and can be implemented in a variety of types of waveguides. Moreover, the performance of the diode is not sensitive to the intrinsic dissipation of the quantum impurity.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.173902