Yong Sun

Bio: Yong Sun is an academic researcher from Tongji University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Metamaterial & Photonic crystal. The author has an hindex of 20, co-authored 104 publications receiving 1644 citations. Previous affiliations of Yong Sun include San Francisco State University.

Experimental Demonstration of a Coherent Perfect Absorber with PT Phase Transition

Abstract: We report the realization of a coherent perfect absorber, using a pair of passive resonators coupled to a microwave transmission line in the background, which can completely absorb light in its parity-time (PT-)symmetric phase but not in its broken phase. Instead of balancing material gain and loss, we exploit the incident waves in the open system as an effective gain so that ideal PT symmetry can be established by using only passive materials. Such a route will be effective to construct PT-symmetric metamaterials and also tunable PT-symmetric optical elements in general. It also provides a flexible platform for studying exceptional-point physics with both electric and magnetic responses.

Simultaneous Observation of a Topological Edge State and Exceptional Point in an Open and Non-Hermitian Acoustic System

Abstract: This Letter reports on the experimental observation of a topologically protected edge state and exceptional point in an open and non-Hermitian (lossy) acoustic system. Although the theoretical underpinning is generic to wave physics, the simulations and experiments are performed for an acoustic system. It has nontrivial topological properties that can be characterized by the Chern number provided that a synthetic dimension is introduced. Unidirectional reflectionless propagation, a hallmark of exceptional points, is unambiguously observed in both simulations and experiments.

Plasmonic analog of electromagnetically induced transparency in nanostructure graphene

Abstract: Graphene has shown intriguing optical properties as a new class of plasmonic material in the terahertz regime. In particular, plasmonic modes in graphene nanostructures can be confined to a spatial size that is hundreds of times smaller than their corresponding wavelengths in vacuum. Here, we show numerically that by designing graphene nanostructures in such deep-subwavelength scales, one can obtain plasmonic modes with the desired radiative properties such as radiative and dark modes. By placing the radiative and dark modes in the vicinity of each other, we further demonstrate electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), analogous to the atomic EIT. At the transparent window, there exist very large group delays, one order of magnitude larger than those offered by metal structures. The EIT spectrum can be further tuned electrically by applying a gate voltage. Our results suggest that the demonstrated EIT based on graphene plasmonics may offer new possibilities for applications in photonics.

Giant Enhancement of the Goos-Hänchen Shift Assisted by Quasibound States in the Continuum

Abstract: In optics, the two main mechanisms for enhancing the Goos-H\"anchen (GH) shift of a reflected light beam have a common shortcoming: The maximum shift is located exactly at the reflectance dip, which makes the reflected beam hard to detect. Here the authors tune the excitation of guided modes in a compound grating-waveguide structure, to realize quasibound states in the continuum (quasi-BICs) with ultrahigh $Q$-factors. Assisted by these quasi-BICs, the GH shift at the reflectance peak can be greatly enhanced. This giant GH shift with high reflectance can be used for $e.g.$ ultrasensitive sensors, wavelength-division (de)multiplexers, optical switches, and polarization beam splitters.

Subwavelength Substrate-Integrated Fabry-Pérot Cavity Antennas Using Artificial Magnetic Conductor

Abstract: This paper presents the high-gain low-profile subwavelength substrate-integrated Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity antennas with artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) sheets. A partially reflective planar AMC sheet and a ground plane are used as the two reflectors of the FP-type resonant cavity for an ultra-thin planar design. The cavity is fully filled with dielectric substrate for further reduction of thickness of the antenna and easy integration. A microstrip patch antenna is embedded into the cavity as a feed. As design examples, the antennas are designed to operate at 10 GHz with a fixed overall thickness of λ0/9 (where λ0 is the operating wavelength in free space) and an aperture of 2λ0 × 2λ0. The losses caused by both dielectric and conductors are analyzed, which are critical for a fully dielectric substrate antenna design. The via-walls surrounding the radiating aperture are introduced to improve radiation patterns and gain by suppressing the surface waves, which are another critical loss for a thin fully dielectric substrate antenna design. Measured results show that such dielectric-integrated subwavelength cavity antennas feature the high gain of 12.5 dBi, low profile, easy integration into circuit board, and mechanical robustness, which makes them suitable for low-cost mass production.

Topological Photonics

Abstract: Topological photonics is a rapidly emerging field of research in which geometrical and topological ideas are exploited to design and control the behavior of light. Drawing inspiration from the discovery of the quantum Hall effects and topological insulators in condensed matter, recent advances have shown how to engineer analogous effects also for photons, leading to remarkable phenomena such as the robust unidirectional propagation of light, which hold great promise for applications. Thanks to the flexibility and diversity of photonics systems, this field is also opening up new opportunities to realize exotic topological models and to probe and exploit topological effects in new ways. This article reviews experimental and theoretical developments in topological photonics across a wide range of experimental platforms, including photonic crystals, waveguides, metamaterials, cavities, optomechanics, silicon photonics, and circuit QED. A discussion of how changing the dimensionality and symmetries of photonics systems has allowed for the realization of different topological phases is offered, and progress in understanding the interplay of topology with non-Hermitian effects, such as dissipation, is reviewed. As an exciting perspective, topological photonics can be combined with optical nonlinearities, leading toward new collective phenomena and novel strongly correlated states of light, such as an analog of the fractional quantum Hall effect.

Parity-time symmetry and exceptional points in photonics.

Abstract: Exploiting the interplay between gain, loss and the coupling strength between different optical components creates a variety of new opportunities in photonics to generate, control and transmit light. Inspired by the discovery of real eigenfrequencies for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians obeying parity–time (PT) symmetry, many counterintuitive aspects are being explored, particularly close to the associated degeneracies also known as ‘exceptional points’. This Review explains the underlying physical principles and discusses the progress in the experimental investigation of PT-symmetric photonic systems. We highlight the role of PT symmetry and non-Hermitian dynamics for synthesizing and controlling the flow of light in optical structures and provide a roadmap for future studies and potential applications. This Review discusses recent developments in the area of non-Hermitian physics, and more specifically the special case of non-Hermitian optical systems with parity–time symmetry.

Parity–time symmetry and variable optical isolation in active–passive-coupled microresonators

Abstract: On-chip parity–time-symmetric optics is experimentally demonstrated at a wavelength of 1,550 nm in two directly coupled, high-Q silica microtoroid resonators with balanced effective gain and loss. Switchable optical isolation with a nonreciprocal isolation ratio between −8 dB and +8 dB is also shown. The findings will be useful for potential applications in optical isolators, on-chip light control and optical communications. Compound-photonic structures with gain and loss1 provide a powerful platform for testing various theoretical proposals on non-Hermitian parity–time-symmetric quantum mechanics2,3,4,5 and initiate new possibilities for shaping optical beams and pulses beyond conservative structures. Such structures can be designed as optical analogues of complex parity–time-symmetric potentials with real spectra. However, the beam dynamics can exhibit unique features distinct from conservative systems due to non-trivial wave interference and phase-transition effects. Here, we experimentally realize parity–time-symmetric optics on a chip at the 1,550 nm wavelength in two directly coupled high-Q silica-microtoroid resonators with balanced effective gain and loss. With this composite system, we further implement switchable optical isolation with a non-reciprocal isolation ratio from −8 dB to +8 dB, by breaking time-reversal symmetry with gain-saturated nonlinearity in a large parameter-tunable space. Of importance, our scheme opens a door towards synthesizing novel microscale photonic structures for potential applications in optical isolators, on-chip light control and optical communications.

Nonlinear waves in PT -symmetric systems

Abstract: The concept of parity-time symmetric systems is rooted in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics where complex potentials obeying this symmetry could exhibit real spectra. The concept has applications in many fields of physics, e.g., in optics, metamaterials, acoustics, Bose-Einstein condensation, electronic circuitry, etc. The inclusion of nonlinearity has led to a number of new phenomena for which no counterparts exist in traditional dissipative systems. Several examples of nonlinear parity-time symmetric systems in different physical disciplines are presented and their implications discussed.

All-dielectric metasurface analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency

Abstract: Metasurface analogues of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) have been a focus of the nanophotonics field in recent years, due to their ability to produce high-quality factor (Q-factor) resonances. Such resonances are expected to be useful for applications such as low-loss slow-light devices and highly sensitive optical sensors. However, ohmic losses limit the achievable Q-factors in conventional plasmonic EIT metasurfaces to values <~10, significantly hampering device performance. Here we experimentally demonstrate a classical analogue of EIT using all-dielectric silicon-based metasurfaces. Due to extremely low absorption loss and coherent interaction of neighbouring meta-atoms, a Q-factor of 483 is observed, leading to a refractive index sensor with a figure-of-merit of 103. Furthermore, we show that the dielectric metasurfaces can be engineered to confine the optical field in either the silicon resonator or the environment, allowing one to tailor light-matter interaction at the nanoscale.