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Relaxed phase-matching constraints in zero-index waveguides
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- The nonlinear optical response of materials is the foundation upon which applications such as frequency conversion, all-optical signal processing, molecular spectroscopy, and nonlinear microscopy are built. However, the utility of all such parametric nonlinear optical processes is hampered by phase-matching requirements. Quasi-phase-matching, birefringent phase matching, and higher-order-mode phase matching have all been developed to address this constraint, but the methods demonstrated to date suffer from the inconvenience of only being phase-matched for a single, specific arrangement of beams, typically co-propagating, resulting in cumbersome experimental configurations and large footprints for integrated devices. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that these phase-matching requirements may be satisfied in a parametric nonlinear optical process for multiple, if not all, configurations of input and output beams when using low-index media. Our measurement constitutes the first experimental observation of direction-independent phase matching for a medium sufficiently long for phase matching concerns to be relevant. We demonstrate four-wave mixing from spectrally distinct co- and counter-propagating pump and probe beams, the backward-generation of a nonlinear signal, and excitation by an out-of-plane probe beam. These results explicitly show that the unique properties of low-index media relax traditional phase-matching constraints, which can be exploited to facilitate nonlinear interactions and miniaturize nonlinear devices, thus adding to the established exceptional properties of low-index materials.<br />Comment: 17 pages, including supplementary information
- Subjects :
- Physics - Optics
Physics - Applied Physics
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.2102.13074
- Document Type :
- Working Paper
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.203902