Ultrahigh-contrast and wideband nanoscale photonic crystal all-optical diode

Abstract

We experimentally realize a nanoscale all-optical diode in a photonic crystal heterostructure with broken spatial inversion symmetry, performing independent of optical nonlinearity. The physical mechanism lies in unique dispersion relations of the photonic crystal and the transition of incident light between different electromagnetic Bloch modes. An ultrahigh transmission contrast of 10(3) order, a large operating bandwidth of over 50 nm, and an ultralow photon intensity of less than 10 kW/cm(2) are reached simultaneously.