Dual-color Coherent Perfect Absorber

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a dual-color coherent perfect absorber (DC-CPA) using a microcavity that achieves simultaneous perfect absorption of fundamental and second harmonic waves, enabling advanced light control and potential applications in signal processing.

Contribution

The experimental realization of a dual-color CPA through second harmonic generation in a microcavity, extending CPA functionality into a multi-frequency domain.

Findings

Achieved simultaneous perfect absorption of fundamental and second harmonic waves.

Controlled light absorption via nonlinear interference by tuning phase and intensity.

Paves the way for all-optical signal processing and quantum information applications.

Abstract

Perfect absorption of light critically affects light-matter interaction for various applications. Coherent perfect absorbers (CPA) gain the unique capability of controlling light with light in a linear fashion. Multi-color CPAs [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 033901] are highly desirable for broadband and nonlinear light-to-light coherent control, however, the experimental demonstration has still remained elusive. Here we experimentally observe a dual-color version of CPA (DC-CPA) through a second harmonic generation in a single whispering-gallery-mode microcavity. The DC-CPA enables simultaneous perfect absorption of both the incoming fundamental wave and its second harmonic. Similar to its linear counterpart, coherent control in the DC-CPA can be also realized by tuning the relative phase and intensity between the two-colored waves through nonlinear interference instead of the linear one. This scheme breaks the linear boundary of the traditional CPA into a multi-frequency domain and paves the way toward all-optically signal processing and quantum information.