Nonreciprocal transmission in a photonic-crystal Fano structure enabled by symmetry breaking

Nanostructures that feature nonreciprocal light transmission are highly desirable building blocks for realizing photonic integrated circuits. Here, a simple and ultra-compact photonic-crystal structure, where a waveguide is coupled to a single nanocavity, is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, showing very efficient optical diode functionality. The key novelty of the structure is the use of a Fano resonance in combination with spatial symmetry breaking and cavity enhanced material nonlinearities to realize non-reciprocal propagation effects at ultra-low power and with a good wavelength tunability. The nonlinearity of the device relies on ultrafast carrier dynamics, rather than the thermal effects usually considered, allowing the demonstration of nonreciprocal operation at a bit-rate of 10 Gbit/s with a low energy consumption of 4.5 fJ/bit.