Abstract
Abstract The new paradigm of parity-time symmetry in quantum mechanics has readily been applied in the field of optics with numerous demonstrations of exotic properties in photonic systems. In this work, we report on the implementation of single frequency electrically injected distributed feedback (DFB) laser diodes based on parity-time symmetric dual gratings in a standard ridge waveguide configuration. We demonstrate enhanced modal discrimination for these devices as compared with index or gain coupled ones, fabricated in the same technology run. Optical transmission probing experiments further show asymmetric amplification in the light propagation confirming the parity-time symmetry signature of unidirectional light behavior. Another asset of these complex coupled devices is further highlighted in terms of robustness to optical feedback.
Highlights
Controlling the electric permittivity along with the magnetic permeability has long been a major field of research in optics, especially in a magnetic perspective
Despite the broad interest brought by PT-symmetry and the opportunities it opens for photonic devices, its development has remained confined to demanding lab-level demonstrations, which very interesting still remain far from real-world applications [2]
A typical LI characteristic of our CC DFB laser is presented in Fig. 3a, the lasing threshold is situated around 40mA with an output power at 200mA around 16mW per facet
Summary
Controlling the electric permittivity along with the magnetic permeability has long been a major field of research in optics, especially in a magnetic perspective. A novel trend in modern optics consisting in the structured engineering of losses, balanced with gain and refractive index manipulation is receiving considerable attention from the photonics research community. This topic, originating from the so called Parity-Time Symmetry (PT-symmetry) inspired from the seemingly unrelated work of Bender et al in 1998 [1] on the hermiticity of Hamiltonians, was found to be of great interest in several compartments of optics for the implementation of devices with intriguing light behavior. To the best of our knowledge, no spin-off to any "killer" application has yet taken place
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