Energy‐lose induced unidirectional light propagation in porous alumina photonic crystal

Abstract

Unidirectional light propagation phenomena are observed in the photonic crystal heterostructures based on anodic alumina membrane when the incident light illuminated from forward and backward directions. Transmittance / reflectance spectra measurements and theoretical calculations show that the origin of this kind of unbalanced reflection is ascribed to the energy loss induced by Rayleigh scattering. Importantly, unidirectional light propagation can be modulated over the whole visible light region by adjusting the combination of different photonic bandgap as well as the view angle. The as‐prepared heterostructures may provide potential applications in direction‐dependent photonic devices.