EFRI NewLAW: Engineering Multiscale Photonic Systems with Broken Time-Reversal Invariance

非技术描述：无论时间是向前还是向后移动，大多数物理定律都是正确的？也就是说，它们是时间对称的。然而，违反时间反转对称性是当今许多问题的基础。最重要的设备是什么？从集成电子学的纳米级二极管到光纤网络的宏观隔离器和环行器。为了实现集成纳米和微光子电路等下一代应用，在光学中控制时间反转对称性至关重要。该项目将研究多长度尺度光子系统中的时间和空间对称性，并探索当这种对称性被破坏时出现的令人兴奋的应用和技术。我们来自五个机构的多学科科学家团队将采用互补策略来违反时间反转对称性并诱导纳米，微观和宏观尺度光子系统中的非互易光输运。我们的发现有可能使一系列新技术成为可能，这些技术最终将有助于满足公共卫生、信息处理、计算和通信方面的关键国家需求。团队成员将与视觉和表演艺术家合作，为中小学生开发教育模块。每个成员将通过前沿的在线研讨会和课程，让来自自己和其他机构的本科生和研究生参与他们的研究。一个关键目标是扩大对高中、社区学院和少数族裔服务机构中代表性不足的群体的接触，并创造新的教育和社区资源，以推进STEM教育。技术描述：在这个EFRI NewLAW项目中，我们的多学科团队将采用整体方法探索光子系统中非互易性和时间反转对称性破缺的新兴前沿，从纳米级等离子体结构和介电微谐振器到大规模集成声光平台。该项目的研究目标将通过理论研究、数值模拟、自上而下和自下而上的材料合成、器件制造和表征等协同努力来实现。利用互补的厄米和非厄米方法，该团队的目标是在纳米尺度、微尺度和宏观尺度系统中实现不对称和非互反的光输运。在厄米系统中，声波和光波将在一个集成设备中耦合，以便实验证明有效的光子磁场如何影响光子输运。利用声波的固有相位特性，可以对光波产生有效的规范场，从而产生有趣的磁效应。该系统将使研究诸如洛伦兹力的光学模拟和量子霍尔效应等令人着迷的效应成为可能。此外，它将提供一个新的基于多物理场动态调制系统的非互易平台。拓扑保护光子边缘态和单向光输运将在大规模光子晶格中得到证明。在非厄米系统中，将研究合理定位的增益和损耗，以开发能够实现纳米和微尺度非互易元件和电路的技术。特别是，利用反线性对称性和特殊点将提供新的策略来补偿或减轻许多物理系统中的损耗，以实现非常规设备，如手性激光器、环行器、单位效率偏振器和片上手性对称光功率限制器。该项目将为新型非互易光子材料和多长度尺度器件建立理论和实验基础，使下一代技术能够满足国家在信息处理和通信方面的关键需求。

Nontechnical description: Most physical laws hold true whether time is moving forward or backward ? that is, they are time symmetric. However, violation of time-reversal symmetry underlies many of today?s most important devices ? from nanoscale diodes of integrated electronics to the macroscale isolators and circulators of fiber optical networks. To enable next- generation applications like integrated nano- and micro-photonic circuits, it is crucial to manipulate time-reversal symmetry in optics. This project will investigate time and space symmetries in multi-length-scale photonic systems and explore the exciting applications and technologies that emerge when such symmetries are violated. Our multi-disciplinary team of scientists from five institutions will employ complementary strategies to violate time-reversal symmetry and induce non-reciprocal light transport in nano-, micro-, and macro-scale photonic systems. Our discoveries have the potential to enable a host of new technologies that will ultimately contribute to critical national needs in public health, information processing, computation, and communications. Team members will collaborate with visual and performing artists and develop educational modules for elementary and secondary school students. Each member will involve undergraduate and graduate students from their own and other institutions in their research through cutting-edge online workshops and courses. A key goal is to broaden outreach to underrepresented groups from high schools, community colleges, and minority- serving institutions and create new educational and community resources to advance STEM education.Technical description: In this EFRI NewLAW project, our multi-disciplinary team will employ a holistic approach to explore the emerging frontier of non-reciprocity and time-reversal symmetry breaking in photonic systems ranging from nanoscale plasmonic structures and dielectric micro- resonators to large scale integrated acousto-optic platforms. The research goals of the project will be achieved by synergistic efforts including theoretical investigation, numerical modeling, top-down and bottom-up materials synthesis, and device fabrication and characterization. Using complementary Hermitian and non-Hermitian approaches, the team aims to realize asymmetric and non-reciprocal optical transport in nanoscale, microscale, and macroscale systems. In Hermitian systems, acoustic and optical waves will be coupled in an integrated device in order to experimentally demonstrate how effective photon magnetic fields can influence photon transport. Utilizing the intrinsic phase properties of the acoustic wave, an effective gauge field can be generated for the optical waves, resulting in intriguing magnetic effects. This system will enable investigation of such fascinating effects as the optical analog of Lorentz forces and quantum Hall effect. Moreover, it will provide a new nonreciprocal platform based on a multi-physics, dynamically modulated system. Topologically protected photon edge state and one-way light transport will be demonstrated in large-scale photonic lattices. In non-Hermitian systems, judiciously positioned gain and loss will be investigated to develop technologies that can enable nano and microscale non-reciprocal components and circuits. In particular, the utilization of antilinear symmetries and exceptional points will provide new strategies to compensate or mitigate losses in many physical systems to enable unconventional devices, such as chiral lasers, circulators, unity-efficiency polarizers and on-chip chiral-symmetric optical power limiters. This project will build the theoretical and experimental foundation for new non-reciprocal photonic materials and devices of multiple length-scales, enabling next generation technologies to address critical national needs in information processing and communications.