Electro-optic non-reciprocal polarization rotation in lithium niobate

Polarization is a fundamental degree of freedom for light and is widely leveraged in free space and fiber optics. Non-reciprocal polarization rotation, enabled via the magneto-optic Faraday effect, has been essentially unbeatable for broadband isolators and circulators. For integrated photonics foundries, however, there is still no good path to producing low-loss magneto-optic components, which has prompted a search for alternatives that do not use polarization rotation. Moreover, magneto-optic materials tend to be highly lossy, and while large (10–100 rad/cm) polarization rotation can be achieved, the key figure of merit (rotation-per-loss) is typically 1 rad/dB. Here, we demonstrate that broadband non-reciprocal polarization rotation can be produced using electro-optics in nanophotonic devices. Our demonstration leverages electro-optic inter-polarization scattering around 780 nm in lithium niobate, in which the reciprocity is broken with the help of a radiofrequency stimulus that carries synthetic momentum. While the demonstrated electro-optic polarization rotation rate is ≈1 rad/cm, the exceptionally low loss of lithium niobate enables non-reciprocal polarization rotators with figures of merit that are 1-2 orders of magnitude better than what is possible with magneto-optics. This approach can be replicated on III–V platforms, paving the way for high-performance lasers with co-integrated monolithic non-reciprocal devices.