Parity–time symmetry and variable optical isolation in active–passive-coupled microresonators

On-chip parity–time-symmetric optics is experimentally demonstrated at a wavelength of 1,550 nm in two directly coupled, high-Q silica microtoroid resonators with balanced effective gain and loss. Switchable optical isolation with a nonreciprocal isolation ratio between −8 dB and +8 dB is also shown. The findings will be useful for potential applications in optical isolators, on-chip light control and optical communications. Compound-photonic structures with gain and loss1 provide a powerful platform for testing various theoretical proposals on non-Hermitian parity–time-symmetric quantum mechanics2,3,4,5 and initiate new possibilities for shaping optical beams and pulses beyond conservative structures. Such structures can be designed as optical analogues of complex parity–time-symmetric potentials with real spectra. However, the beam dynamics can exhibit unique features distinct from conservative systems due to non-trivial wave interference and phase-transition effects. Here, we experimentally realize parity–time-symmetric optics on a chip at the 1,550 nm wavelength in two directly coupled high-Q silica-microtoroid resonators with balanced effective gain and loss. With this composite system, we further implement switchable optical isolation with a non-reciprocal isolation ratio from −8 dB to +8 dB, by breaking time-reversal symmetry with gain-saturated nonlinearity in a large parameter-tunable space. Of importance, our scheme opens a door towards synthesizing novel microscale photonic structures for potential applications in optical isolators, on-chip light control and optical communications.