Frequency manipulation of light by photonic gauge potentials

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel method for manipulating light frequency using photonic gauge potentials in fiber-optic systems, achieving large frequency shifts, bandwidth expansion, and advanced spectral control.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach to frequency manipulation via photonic gauge potentials, enabling efficient and versatile control in optical communications and quantum optics.

Findings

Achieved up to 50 GHz frequency shift.

Expanded bandwidth of frequency combs threefold.

Realized negative refraction and perfect imaging for spectra.

Abstract

The ability to manipulate the frequency of light is of great importance in both fundamental quantum sciences and practical applications. Traditional method for frequency conversion relies on nonlinear optical processes, which are faced with the obstacles of low efficiency and limited bandwidth. Recent developments of topological photonics introduce the concepts of gauge potentials and magnetic fields to the realm of photons. Here, we demonstrate versatile frequency manipulation of light via photonic gauge potentials in a fiber-optic communication system. The gauge potential of frequency dimension is realized by controlling the initial phase of electro-optic phase modulation. A maximum 50 GHz frequency shift and three-fold bandwidth expansion for frequency combs are achieved by choosing different gauge potentials. By adopting two cascaded phase modulators with different gauge potentials, we also realize "negative refraction" for frequency combs and frequency "perfect imaging"for arbitrarily input spectra. These results may pave the way towards versatile frequency management in quantum optics and classical optical communications.