Abstract
Wideband optical isolators are critical for the robust operation of virtually all photonic systems. However, they have been challenging to realize in the integrated form due to the incompatibility of magnetic media with these circuit technologies. Here we present the first-ever demonstration of an integrated non-magnetic optical isolator with terahertz-level optical bandwidth. The system comprises two acousto-optic beamsplitters that create a non-reciprocal multimode interferometer exhibiting high-contrast, non-reciprocal light transmission. We dramatically enhance the isolation bandwidth of this system by precisely balancing the group delays of the paths of the interferometer. Using this approach, we demonstrate integrated non-magnetic isolators with an optical contrast as high as 24.5 dB, insertion losses as low as −2.16 dB and optical bandwidths as high as 2 THz (16 nm). We also show that the centre frequency and direction of optical isolation are rapidly reconfigurable by tuning the relative phase of the microwave signals used to drive the acousto-optic beamsplitters. With their complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor compatibility, wideband operation, low losses and rapid reconfigurability, such integrated isolators address a key barrier to the integration of a wide range of photonic functionalities on a chip.
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Acknowledgements
This research was developed with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA LUMOS) under award no. HR0011048577 (H.C., Y.Z., F.R., M.P., S.G., A.L.S., A.J.L., A.T.P., D.C.T., C.D., M.B., K.M.M., M.G., A.K., M.E., A.L.L., N.T.O. and P.T.R.) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) under award no. 2137740.(H.C., Y.Z., F.R., M.P. and P.T.R.) The views, opinions and/or findings expressed are those of the author and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies of the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, or the US Government. Distribution Statement A - Approved for Public Release, Distribution Unlimited. This material is based upon work supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525. This paper describes objective technical results and analysis. The views, opinions and/or findings expressed are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies of the US Department of Energy, US Department of Defense or the US Government.
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H.C., Y.Z., N.T.O., A.L.L. and P.T.R. led the project and conceived of the device physics and experiment. H.C. and Y.Z. designed and measured the dispersion-engineered waveguide devices. Y.Z. and H.C. designed and measured the dual-waveguide devices. F.R., M.P. and S.G. contributed to the AOM design. A.L.S., A.J.L., A.T.P., D.C.T., C.D., M.B., K.M.M., M.G., A.K., A.L.L., M.E. and N.T.O. fabricated the devices. Y.Z., H.C. and P.T.R. wrote the paper with input from all authors. All authors contributed to the design and discussion of the results.
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Cheng, H., Zhou, Y., Ruesink, F. et al. A terahertz-bandwidth non-magnetic isolator. Nat. Photon. 19, 533–539 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01663-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01663-8
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