Guiding and confining of light in a two-dimensional synthetic space using electric fields
Abstract
Synthetic dimensions provide a promising platform for photonic quantum simulations. Manipulating the flow of photons in these dimensions requires an electric field. However, photons do not have charge and do not directly interact with electric fields. Therefore, alternative approaches are needed to realize electric fields in photonics. One approach is to use engineered gauge fields that can mimic the effect of electric fields and produce the same dynamical behavior. Here, we demonstrate such an electric field for photons propagating in a two-dimensional synthetic space. Generation of electric fields in a two-dimensional synthetic lattice provides the possibility to guide photons and to trap them through the creation of quantum confined structures. We achieve this using a linearly time-varying gauge field generated by direction-dependent phase modulations. We show that the generated electric field leads to Bloch oscillations and the revival of the state after a certain number of steps dependent on the field strength. We measure the probability of the revival and demonstrate a good agreement between the observed values and the theoretically predicted results. Furthermore, by applying a nonuniform electric field, we show the possibility of waveguiding photons. Ultimately, our results open up new opportunities for manipulating the propagation of photons with potential applications in photonic quantum simulations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 12, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.1364/optica.386347
Entities
People
- Edo Waks
- Hamidreza Chalabi
- Mohammad Hafezi
- Sabyasachi Barik
- Sunil Mittal
- Thomas E Murphy
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- National Science Foundation