Nonreciprocity at telecom wavelengths

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Non-technical abstract: The overall goals of this program are to explore nonreciprocity in a series of Er-containing multiferroics and to invest in the education of a diverse group of young people at the University of Tennessee. Both initiatives merit broad support because they will advance the fundamental understanding of one-way transparency in ultra-low symmetry materials and contribute to important societal values and outcomes. To focus our efforts, we will concentrate on nonreciprocity in the C-band telecom regime – particularly at 1550 nm where Er glass fibers are currently in use – and several different Er-containing systems have been selected to test these ideas using high field spectroscopies at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. A broad range of educational, outreach, and service activities will also take place under the auspices of this National Science Foundation-funded program, especially in the areas of diversity, conference and workshop organization, and service to various national laboratories.Technical abstract: The research outlined in this proposal builds upon our team’s recent discovery of nonreciprocal directional dichroism across the telecom wavelength range in Ni3TeO6. Given the commercial use of drawn Er-glass fibers for optical communications, we hypothesize that multiferroics like Er-substituted YMnO3, Er-doped Ni3TeO6, ErFe3(BO3)4, and ErFeO3 may offer broken symmetry, low loss environments in which changing magnetic field or light propagation direction can create optical diode effects. Our goals are to (i) reveal new states of matter hosting unusual symmetries and properties, (ii) explore how ultra-low symmetries generate dynamic magnetoelectric coupling and nonreciprocity, (iii) test strategies for placing dichroic contrast in the C-band region, (iv) unravel structure-property relations connected with nonreciprocity, and (v) discover how these effects can be enhanced and controlled. What brings these efforts together is the opportunity to explore completely new types of light-matter interactions under extreme conditions. Findings from this program will advance theoretical development and photonics applications. This program also supports the interdisciplinary education of a diverse group of young researchers for future employment in academics, government laboratories, and industry in the area of quantum materials.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.