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Published in

IOP Publishing, New Journal of Physics, 3(13), p. 033025, 2011

DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/13/3/033025

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Electromagnetic wave analogue of an electronic diode

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

An electronic diode is a nonlinear semiconductor circuit component that allows conduction of electrical current in one direction only. A component with similar functionality for electromagnetic waves, an electromagnetic isolator, is based on the Faraday effect of rotation of the polarization state and is also a key component in optical and microwave systems. Here we demonstrate a chiral electromagnetic diode, which is a direct analogue of an electronic diode: its functionality is underpinned by an extraordinarily strong nonlinear wave propagation effect in the same way as the electronic diode function is provided by the nonlinear current characteristic of a semiconductor junction. The effect exploited in this new electromagnetic diode is an intensity-dependent polarization change in an artificial chiral metamolecule. This microwave effect exceeds a similar optical effect previously observed in natural crystals by more than 12 orders of magnitude and a direction-dependent transmission that differs by a factor of 65.