Dynamic modulation yields one-way beam splitting

Abstract

This article demonstrates the realization of an extraordinary beam splitter based on nonreciprocal and synchronized photonic transitions in obliquely illuminated space-time-modulated (STM) slabs which impart the coherent temporal frequency and spatial frequency shifts. As a consequence of such unusual photonic transitions, a one-way beam splitting and amplification is exhibited by the STM slab. Beam splitting is a vital operation for various optical and photonic systems, ranging from quantum computation to fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. Despite the beam splitting is conceptually a simple operation, the performance characteristics of beam splitters significantly influence the repeatability and accuracy of the entire optical system. As of today, there has been no approach exhibiting a nonreciprocal beam splitting accompanied with transmission gain and an arbitrary splitting angle. Here, we show that oblique illumination of a periodic and semi-coherent dynamically-modulated slab results in coherent photonic transitions between the incident light beam and its counterpart space-time harmonic (STH). Such photonic transitions introduce a unidirectional synchronization and momentum exchange between two STHs with same temporal frequencies, but opposite spatial frequencies. Such a beam splitting technique offers high isolation, transmission gain and zero beam tilting, and is expected to drastically decrease the resource and isolation requirements in optical and photonic systems. In addition to the analytical solution, we provide a closed-form solution for the electromagnetic fields in STM structures, and accordingly, investigate the properties of the wave isolation and amplification in subluminal, superluminal and luminal ST modulations.