A bidirectional tunable optical diode based on periodically poled LiNbO_3

We propose a bidirectional tunable optical diode based on a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) with defect. An acoustic wave propagates together with the light beam so that a collinear photon-phonon interaction happens, which affects the nonlinear optical processes in PPLN. The fundamental wave exhibits an optical diode effect, i.e., the light only may travel toward a single direction while the opposite way is isolated. However, the acoustic wave could be used to adjust the contrast of optical isolation from -1 to 1. A direction-optional operation is thus realized. Moreover, the advantages of our tunable PPLN optical diode are also discussed.