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Composite optical interference in non-unitary and unitary beam-splitter systems

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Abstract

In this paper, we theoretically propose and demonstrate a non-unitary beam-splitter (BS) by introducing coupling losses at the interface of the plasmonic waveguide and multimode dielectric waveguide (DW). The coupling losses enable us to modify the reflection and transmission factors, which can result in arbitrary shift of interference curves of two outputs. Specially, the lossy non-unitary BS can tune the amplitudes and phases of two outputs, even making them change synchronously, regardless of input phase differences. After a \(\pi /2\) phase delay in one arm, these two outputs are fed into another multimode DW. This DW is a normal unitary BS, working like the Michelson interferometer, where anti-synchronous interference can take place. At last, the whole device outputs an invariant zero energy state in one port, exhibiting a phase-insensitive performance. Our study provides a versatile design platform to realize non-unitary/unitary BS and construct more multi-functional devices.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 11804157). The computational resources generously provided by High Performance Computing Center of Nanjing Tech University are greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, China

    Zhikai Li, Yulin Wang, Chengping Huang & Yong Zhang

  2. College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Tao Li

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Correspondence to Yulin Wang.

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Li, Z., Wang, Y., Li, T. et al. Composite optical interference in non-unitary and unitary beam-splitter systems. J Opt 50, 495–501 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-021-00728-5

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