Nonreciprocal Infrared Absorption via Resonant Magneto-optical Coupling to InAs

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates nonreciprocal infrared absorption in doped InAs by breaking time-reversal symmetry using a magneto-optic structure with a guided-mode resonator, enabling asymmetric thermal emission control.

Contribution

It introduces a novel magneto-optic GMR structure that achieves nonreciprocal absorption at infrared frequencies, breaking reciprocity in thermal radiation.

Findings

Nonreciprocal absorption observed as a function of magnetic field and angle.

Experimental results reliably modeled considering resonant and nonresonant scattering.

Potential for designing devices with asymmetric absorptivity and emissivity.

Abstract

Nonreciprocal elements are a vital building block of electrical and optical systems. In the infrared regime, there is a particular interest in structures that break reciprocity because their thermal absorptive (and emissive) properties should not obey the Kirchhoff thermal radiation law. In this work, we break time-reversal symmetry and reciprocity in n-type doped magneto-optic InAs with a static magnetic field where light coupling is mediated by a guided-mode-resonator (GMR) structure whose resonant frequency coincides with the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) resonance of the doped InAs. Using this structure, we observe the nonreciprocal absorptive behavior as a function of magnetic field and scattering angle in the infrared. Accounting for resonant and nonresonant optical scattering, we reliably model experimental results that break reciprocal absorption relations in the infrared. The ability to design such nonreciprocal absorbers opens an avenue to explore devices with unequal absorptivity and emissivity in specific channels.