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NON-RECIPROCAL DEVICES

Coupled resonators give direction

Nature Electronics volume 1, pages 94–95 (2018)Cite this article

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Isolators with superior performance to existing devices can be designed by combining nonlinear resonators.

Lorentz reciprocity is a fundamental physical principle that characterizes the vast majority of electronic and photonic systems, and means, roughly, that signals or waves travel in the same manner in both forward and reverse directions. Most passive electronic and photonic components, therefore, feature reciprocal or two-way transmission. However, many applications require non-reciprocal or one-way transmission, and use devices that can break reciprocity. Isolators are two-port devices that allow waves to be transmitted in only one direction, and are used, for example, at the output of power amplifiers in transmitters to protect them from back-reflections. Similarly, circulators are multi-port devices that can be used to route signals from one port to the next, and are used in various applications such as radar systems. Recently, full-duplex communication1 has emerged as an exciting new approach to wireless systems and is being considered for the next generation of cellular networks — the much hyped ‘5G’. Full duplex wireless involves simultaneous transmission and reception on the same frequency channel, potentially doubling wireless capacity. It requires, however, circulators at the antenna interface to separate the transmitter and receiver signals.

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Fig. 1: Isolators based on coupled nonlinear resonators.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Harish Krishnaswamy, Negar Reiskarimian & Aravind Nagulu

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  1. Harish Krishnaswamy
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  2. Negar Reiskarimian
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  3. Aravind Nagulu
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Correspondence to Harish Krishnaswamy.

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Krishnaswamy, H., Reiskarimian, N. & Nagulu, A. Coupled resonators give direction. Nat Electron 1, 94–95 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-018-0032-1

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