Asymmetric Transmission in Photonic Structures with Phase-Change Components

TL;DR

This paper investigates how asymmetric photonic structures with phase-change components can exhibit highly directional light transmission and optical limiting effects when heated by incident light, enabling new photonic device functionalities.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical analysis of asymmetric photonic structures with thermally driven phase-change components, demonstrating their potential for directional transmission and optical control.

Findings

Transmittance becomes highly asymmetric under light-induced heating

Broad range of light intensities shows significant asymmetry

Potential applications in optical limiting and power switching

Abstract

We consider the scattering problem for an asymmetric composite photonic structure with a component experiencing a thermally driven phase transition. Using a numerical example, we show that if the heating is caused by the incident light, the transmittance can become highly asymmetric within a broad range of light intensities. This effect can be utilized for directional light transmission, asymmetric optical limiting, or power switching.