Parametric-amplification-induced nonreciprocal magnon laser.

We theoretically propose a scheme to achieve all-optical nonreciprocal magnon lasing action in a composite cavity optomagnonical system considering of a yttrium iron garnet sphere coupled to a parametric resonator. The magnon lasing behavior can be engendered via the magnon-induced Brillouin scattering process in the cavity optomagnonical system. By unidirectionally driving the χ(2)-nonlinear resonator with a classical coherent field, the squeezed effect occurs only in the selected direction due to the phase-matching condition, resulting in asymmetric detuning between the two resonators, which is the physical mechanism to generate a nonreciprocal magnon laser. We further examine the gain factor and power threshold of the magnon laser. Moreover, the isolation rate can reach 21 dB by adjusting the amplitude of the parametric amplification. Our work shows a path to obtain an all-optical nonreciprocal magnon laser, which provides a means for the preparation of a coherent magnon laser and laser protection.

Exceptional points enhance sum sideband generation in a mechanical PT-symmetric system.

Systems exhibiting parity-time (PT) symmetry are, in general, non-Hermitian systems, in which exceptional points (EPs) emerge when the system transits from the PT-symmetric phase to the broken-PT-symmetric phase. Based on the abnormal exponential amplification effect in EPs, it is often used to generate, control and transmit light in non-Hermitian systems. In this paper, we theoretically analyze the generation of the frequency components at the sum sideband by considering the nonlinear terms of the optomechanical dynamics in a double-probe-field-driven mechanical PT-symmetric system. Using experimentally achievable parameters, we demonstrate that the efficiency of sum sideband generation (SSG) can be significantly enhanced in EPs, even that the efficiency of SSG can be raised by three orders of magnitude compared to the general optomechanical system by adjusting the appropriate system parameters. These results are beneficial to explore the transmission and conversion of light in chip-scale optical communications.

Generation and enhancement of sum sideband in a quadratically coupled optomechanical system with parametric interactions.

We investigate theoretically the generation and enhancement of sum sideband in a quadratically coupled optomechanical system with parametric interactions. It is shown that the generation of frequency components at the sum sideband stems from the nonlinear optomechanical interactions via two-phonon processes in the quadratically coupled optomechanical system, while an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) inside the system can considerably improve the sum sideband generation (SSG). The dependence of SSG on the system parameters, including the power of the control field, the frequency detuning of the probe fields and the nonlinear gain of OPA are analyzed in detail. Our analytic calculation indicates that the SSG can be obtained even under weak driven fields and greatly enhanced via meeting the matching conditions. The effect of SSG may have potential applications for achieving measurement of electric charge (or other weak forces) with higher precision and on-chip manipulation of light propagation.

A proposed method to measure weak magnetic field based on a hybrid optomechanical system.

Optomechanical systems have long been considered in the field of precision measurement. In this work, measurement of weak magnetic field in a hybrid optomechanical system is discussed. In contrast to conventional measurements based on detecting the change of magnetic flux, our scheme presents an alternative way to measure the magnetic field with a precision of 0.1 nT. We show that the effective cavity resonance frequency will be revised due to the electromagnetic interactions. Therefore, a resonance valley in the transmission spectrum of the probe field will shift in the presence of the magnetic field, and the width of an asymmetric transparency in the optomechanically induced transparency (OMIT) shows a strong dependence on the magnetic field strength. Our results may have potential application for achieving high precision measurement of the magnetic field.

Solitons in optomechanical arrays.

We show that optical solitons can be obtained with a one-dimensional optomechanical array that consists of a chain of periodically spaced identical optomechanical systems. Unlike conventional optical solitons, which originate from nonlinear polarization, the optical soliton here stems from a new mechanism, namely, phonon-photon interaction. Under proper conditions, the phonon-photon induced nonlinearity that refers to the optomechanical nonlinearity will exactly compensate the dispersion caused by photon hopping of adjacent optomechanical systems. Moreover, the solitons are capable of exhibiting very low group velocity, depending on the photon hopping rate, which may lead to many important applications, including all-optical switches and on-chip optical architecture. This work may extend the range of optomechanics and nonlinear optics and provide a new field to study soliton theory and develop corresponding applications.

Optomechanically induced sum sideband generation.

Sum sideband generation in a generic optomechanical system is discussed in the parameter configuration of optomechanically induced transparency. The nonlinear terms of the optomechanical dynamics are taken account and the features of the sum sideband generation are identified based on the analytical treatment. The nonlinear optomechanical interactions between cavity fields and the mechanical oscillation, which emerging as a new frontier in cavity optomechanics, are responsible for the generation of the frequency components at the sum sideband. We analyze in detail the influences of some parameters, including the pump power of the control field and the frequencies of the probe fields, on the sum sideband generation. The results clearly indicate that sum sideband generation can be significantly enhanced via achieving the matching conditions. The effect of sum sideband generation may be accessible in experiments and have potential application for achieving high precision measurement and on-chip manipulation of light propagation.

Controllable chaos in hybrid electro-optomechanical systems.

We investigate the nonlinear dynamics of a hybrid electro-optomechanical system (EOMS) that allows us to realize the controllable opto-mechanical nonlinearity by driving the microwave LC resonator with a tunable electric field. A controllable optical chaos is realized even without changing the optical pumping. The threshold and lifetime of the chaos could be optimized by adjusting the strength, frequency, or phase of the electric field. This study provides a method of manipulating optical chaos with an electric field. It may offer the prospect of exploring the controllable chaos in on-chip optoelectronic devices and its applications in secret communication.

Analytic descriptions of cylindrical electromagnetic waves in a nonlinear medium.

A simple but highly efficient approach for dealing with the problem of cylindrical electromagnetic waves propagation in a nonlinear medium is proposed based on an exact solution proposed recently. We derive an analytical explicit formula, which exhibiting rich interesting nonlinear effects, to describe the propagation of any amount of cylindrical electromagnetic waves in a nonlinear medium. The results obtained by using the present method are accurately concordant with the results of using traditional coupled-wave equations. As an example of application, we discuss how a third wave affects the sum- and difference-frequency generation of two waves propagation in the nonlinear medium.

Optomechanically induced transparency in the presence of an external time-harmonic-driving force.

We propose a potentially valuable scheme to measure the properties of an external time-harmonic-driving force with frequency ω via investigating its interaction with the combination of a pump field and a probe field in a generic optomechanical system. We show that the spectra of both the cavity field and output field in the configuration of optomechanically induced transparency are greatly modified by such an external force, leading to many interesting linear and non-linear effects, such as the asymmetric structure of absorption in the frequency domain and the antisymmetry breaking of dispersion near ω = ωm. Furthermore, we find that our scheme can be used to measure the initial phase of the external force. More importantly, this setup may eliminate the negative impact of thermal noise on the measurement of the weak external force in virtue of the process of interference between the probe field and the external force. Finally, we show that our configuration can be employed to improve the measurement resolution of the radiation force produced by a weak ultrasonic wave.

Optomechanically induced transparency in the mechanical-mode splitting regime.

We employ a decoupled Heisenberg-Langevin equation for the observation and physical interpretation of mechanical-mode splitting (MMS) of the movable mirror in a generic optomechanical system. Then we identify some observable and significant features of MMS in a two-mode cavity. That is, the second control field coupled to another optical mode is input to the system to modify the mechanical mode, leading to the suppression of transmission, the appearance of the doublet in the spectrum of the anti-Stokes field, and the emergence of optomechanically induced transparency in corresponding new mechanical modes. Furthermore, we open two transparent windows in virtue of MMS and find the second splitting of the mechanical mode in this two-mode optomechanical system.

Initial value problems of cylindrical electromagnetic waves propagation in a nonlinear nondispersive medium.

We introduce a simple method to estimate the accuracy of exact solutions under initial value conditions proposed by Petrov and Kudrin [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 190404 (2010)]. We demonstrate that even for a sufficiently weak nonlinearity, the initial value condition difference between linear and nonlinear case may be evident. Our result may be used as a criterion of employing the exact solution to deal with initial value problems of cylindrical electromagnetic wave propagation in a nonlinear nondispersive medium.

Carrier-envelope phase-dependent effect of high-order sideband generation in ultrafast driven optomechanical system.

We analyze the features of the output field of a generic optomechanical system that is driven by a control field and a nanosecond driven pulse, and find a robust high-order sideband generation in optomechanical systems. The typical spectral structure, plateau and cutoff, confirms the nonperturbative nature of the effect, which is similar to high-order harmonic generation in atoms or molecules. Based on the phenomenon, we show that the carrier-envelope phase of laser pulses that contain huge numbers of cycles can cause profound effects.

Solutions of the cylindrical nonlinear Maxwell equations.

Cylindrical nonlinear optics is a burgeoning research area which describes cylindrical electromagnetic wave propagation in nonlinear media. Finding new exact solutions for different types of nonlinearity and inhomogeneity to describe cylindrical electromagnetic wave propagation is of great interest and meaningful for theory and application. This paper gives exact solutions for the cylindrical nonlinear Maxwell equations and presents an interesting connection between the exact solutions for different cylindrical nonlinear Maxwell equations. We also provide some examples and discussion to show the application of the results we obtained. Our results provide the basis for solving complex systems of nonlinearity and inhomogeneity with simple systems.

Second-harmonic generation of cylindrical electromagnetic waves propagating in an inhomogeneous and nonlinear medium.

A general description of cylindrical electromagnetic waves propagating in nonlinear and inhomogeneous media is given by deducing cylindrical coupled-wave equations. Based on the cylindrical coupled-wave equations, we analyze second-harmonic generation (SHG) of some special cases of inhomogeneity, and find that the inhomogeneity of the first- and second-order polarization can influence the amplitude of the SHG. From a different point of view, exact solutions of cylindrical electromagnetic waves propagating in a nonlinear medium with a special case of inhomogeneity have been obtained previously. We show that cylindrical SHG in an inhomogeneous and nonlinear medium can also be deduced from exact solutions. As verification, we compare the results obtained from the two different methods and find that descriptions of SHG by the coupled-wave equations are in good agreement with the exact solutions.

Analytic description of cylindrical electromagnetic wave propagation in an inhomogeneous nonlinear and nondispersive medium.

In a recent publication [E. Y. Petrov and A. V. Kudrin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 190404 (2010)], a method for constructing exact axisymmetric solutions of the Maxwell equations in a nonlinear nondispersive medium has been put forward. In this Brief Report, we will use the proposed method to deal with problems of wave propagation in an inhomogeneous nonlinear and nondispersive medium. The inhomogeneous factor is chosen in the form as r(ß), where ß is a certain constant. By solving the Maxwell equations an exact axisymmetric solution is obtained, starting from the corresponding solution of linear field equations, to describe the propagation of cylindrical electromagnetic waves in the medium. In the limit ß→0, our solutions go into a nonlinear but homogeneous case, which is the same as prevenient results. We analyze the initial value problem and boundary value problem, to compare the differences between homogeneous and inhomogeneous conditions. It is found that the amplitude and frequency of the electromagnetic wave can be controlled with different ß. Our results can be used for analysis of inhomogeneous ferroelectric resonators.

Slow vector optical solitons in a cold five-level hyper V-type atomic system.

A new scheme of five-level hyper V-type atomic system is proposed with the aim of generating slow temporal vector optical solitons. Two transitions in the five-level atomic medium independently interact with the two orthogonally polarized components of a low intensity linear-polarized pulsed probe field, while two other transitions are driven by control laser fields. We demonstrate that various distortion-free slow temporal vector optical solitons, such as bright-bright, bright-dark, dark-bright and dark-dark vector solitons, can be evolved from the probe field. Besides, we also show that the modified Hubbard model that includes the Manakov system may be realized by adjusting the corresponding self- (cross-) phase modulation and dispersion effects of this system.