Highly Effcient Nonreciprocity based on the Four Wave Mixing in a Semiconductor Quantum Well

Abstract

Optical nonreciprocity has been a popular research topic in recent years. Semiconductor quantum wells (SQWs) have a key role in many high-performance optoelectronic devices. In this paper, we propose a theoretical scheme to achieve nonmagnetic optical nonreciprocity based on the four-wave mixing effect in SQW nanostructures. Using the experimentally available parameters, the nonreciprocal behavior of the probe field in both front and back directions through this SQW is achieved, where both nonreciprocal transmission and nonreciprocal phase shift have high transmission rates. Furthermore, by embedding this SQW nanostructure into a Mach-Zender interferometer, a reconfigurable nonreciprocal device based on high transmission nonreciprocal phase shift that can be used as an isolator or a circulator is designed and analyzed. The device can be realized as a two-port optical isolator with an isolation ratio of 92.39 dB and an insertion loss of 0.25 dB, and as a four-port optical circulator with a fidelity of 0.9993, a photon survival probability of 0.9518 and a low insertion loss with suitable parameters. Semiconductor media have the advantage of easier integration and tunable parameters, and this scheme can provide theoretical guidance for the implementation of nonreciprocal and nonreciprocal photonic devices based on semiconductor solid-state media.