Rectification of light refraction in curved waveguide arrays

TL;DR

This paper introduces an optical ratchet mechanism in photonic lattices that rectifies light refraction regardless of input conditions, with a proposed experimental setup using curved waveguide arrays.

Contribution

It presents a novel theoretical concept of an optical ratchet for light rectification in photonic lattices and suggests a feasible experimental implementation.

Findings

Theoretical demonstration of light rectification in photonic lattices.

Proposal of a curved waveguide array setup for experimental realization.

Potential for controlling light propagation in integrated photonic devices.

Abstract

An 'optical ratchet' for discretized light in photonic lattices, which enables to observe rectification of light refraction at any input beam conditions, is theoretically presented, and a possible experimental implementation based on periodically-curved zigzag waveguide arrays is proposed.