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Non-reciprocal ultrafast laser writing

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 99–104 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Photosensitivity is a material property that is relevant to many phenomena and applications, from photosynthesis and photography to optical data storage and ultrafast laser writing. It was commonly thought that, in a homogeneous medium, photosensitivity and the corresponding light-induced material modifications do not change on reversing the direction of light propagation. Here we demonstrate that when the direction of the femtosecond laser beam is reversed from the +z to –z direction, the structures written in LiNbO3 crystal when translating the beam along the +y and –y directions are mirrored. In a non-centrosymmetric medium, modification of the material can therefore differ for light propagating in opposite directions. This is the first evidence of a new optical phenomenon of non-reciprocal photosensitivity. We interpret this effect in terms of light pressure and associated heat flow, resulting in a temperature gradient in homogeneous media without inversion symmetry under uniform intense irradiation.

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Figure 1: Line structures written along the y axis of the LiNbO3 sample.
Figure 2: Comparison of the line structures imprinted along the y and x axes.
Figure 3: Phase images of line structures in the rotation experiment.
Figure 4: Phase images of line structures in the flip experiment.
Figure 5: Illustration of the differential heating of a crystal as a result of the bulk photothermal effect.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to K. Gallo and V.Y. Shur for helpful discussions and C. Corbari for help with the experiments. The work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Y.P.S. would like to acknowledge the support of Academy of Finland (grant no. 115781) and the National Technology Agency of Finland (TEKES) (grant no. 40310).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

    Weijia Yang & Peter G. Kazansky

  2. Department of Physics and Mathematics, University of Joensuu, FI-80101, Finland

    Yuri P. Svirko

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  1. Weijia Yang
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Correspondence to Peter G. Kazansky.

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Yang, W., Kazansky, P. & Svirko, Y. Non-reciprocal ultrafast laser writing. Nature Photon 2, 99–104 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2007.276

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