Abstract
We report on the existence of optical Bloch oscillations (OBOs) and Zener tunneling (ZT) of Airy beams in ionic-type photonic lattices with a refractive index ramp. Different from their counterparts in uniform lattices, Airy beams undergoing OBOs show an alternatively switched concave and convex trajectory as well as a periodical revival of input beam profiles. Moreover, the ionic-type photonic lattice established in photorefractive crystal exhibits a reconfigurable lattice structure, which provides a flexible way to tune the amplitude and period of the OBOs. Remarkably, it is demonstrated that the band gap of the lattice can be readily controlled by rotating the lattice inducing beam, which forces the ZT rate to follow two significant different decay curves amidst decreasing index gradient. Our results open up new possibilities for all-optical switching, routing and manipulation of Airy beams.
Highlights
Airy beam as a diffraction-free wave packet has attracted substantial research interests during last decades [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
We have demonstrated that optical Bloch oscillations (OBOs) and Zener tunneling (ZT) of Airy beams can be realized in ionic-type photonic lattices with the transverse refractive index ramp
Our results show that Airy beams undergoing OBOs exhibit periodically switched accelerating direction and perfect recurrences of beam profiles
Summary
Airy beam as a diffraction-free wave packet has attracted substantial research interests during last decades [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] It exhibits many intriguing characteristics including self-accelerating [1,2] and self-healing [8], which are beneficial for applications ranging from optical manipulation of particles [9] to all-optical switching [10] and high-resolution optical microscopy [11,12]. It is demonstrated that by rotating the lattice inducing beam, ZT rate follows two significantly different decay curves as the index gradient decreases, which is potentially beneficial for Airy beam based all optical switching and routing
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