Wide-Aperture Layered-Sheet Faraday Isolator

Abstract

We introduce the first conceptual design of a free-space thin-sheet isolator with unlimited aperture and the possibility of a broadband omnidirectional rejection of the backward propagating light. The proposed design involves a multilayered resonant cavity incorporating subwavelength magnetic layers, dichroic nanolayers, and an optional metallic nanolayer. The cavity resonance enhances the Faraday rotation produced by the subwavelength magnetic layers, while providing nearly total absorption of the backward-propagating light by the dichroic nanolayers. The latter is a necessary and the most challenging condition for a thin-sheet isolator with unlimited aperture to function. The (optional) metallic nanolayer provides rejection of the obliquely incident light, which otherwise would be partially transmitted in either direction. Our numerical simulations and quasi-optical measurements at millimeter-wave frequencies illustrate how the key elements of the layered-sheet isolator work. Our approach can be scaled down to long- and mid-infrared wavelengths.