We report on optical analogues ofwell-known electronic phenomena such as Bloch oscillations and electrical Zener breakdown. We describe and detail the experimental observation of Bloch oscillations and resonant Zener tunneling of light waves in static and time-resolved transmission measurements performed on optical superlattices. Optical superlattices are formed by one-dimensional photonic structures (coupled microcavities) of high optical quality and are specifically designed to represent a tilted photonic crystal band. In the tilted bands condition, the miniband of degenerate cavity modes turns into an opticalWannier-Stark ladder (WSL). This allows an ultrashort light pulse to bounce between the tilted photonic band edges and hence to perform Bloch oscillations, the period of which is defined by the frequency separation of the WSL states. When the superlattice is designed such that two minibands are formed within the stop band, at a critical value of the tilt of photonic bands the two WSLs couple within the superlattice structure. This results in a formation of a resonant tunneling channel in the minigap region, where the light transmission boosts from 0.3% to over 43%. The latter case describes the resonant Zener tunneling of light waves. © 2012 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.
Optical superlattices: Where photons behave like electrons
OTON NIETO, CLAUDIO JOSE;
2011-01-01
Abstract
We report on optical analogues ofwell-known electronic phenomena such as Bloch oscillations and electrical Zener breakdown. We describe and detail the experimental observation of Bloch oscillations and resonant Zener tunneling of light waves in static and time-resolved transmission measurements performed on optical superlattices. Optical superlattices are formed by one-dimensional photonic structures (coupled microcavities) of high optical quality and are specifically designed to represent a tilted photonic crystal band. In the tilted bands condition, the miniband of degenerate cavity modes turns into an opticalWannier-Stark ladder (WSL). This allows an ultrashort light pulse to bounce between the tilted photonic band edges and hence to perform Bloch oscillations, the period of which is defined by the frequency separation of the WSL states. When the superlattice is designed such that two minibands are formed within the stop band, at a critical value of the tilt of photonic bands the two WSLs couple within the superlattice structure. This results in a formation of a resonant tunneling channel in the minigap region, where the light transmission boosts from 0.3% to over 43%. The latter case describes the resonant Zener tunneling of light waves. © 2012 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.