Non-reciprocal electrooptic intermodal scattering with momentum engineered RF waves

Abstract: Spatiotemporal modulation approaches have been often employed as alternatives for producing optical non-reciprocity without magneto-optic materials. Unidirectional inter-modal scattering, enabled by either acousto-optic or electro-optic (EO) modulation, is a promising method in this category as it can directly modify optical dispersions and even enables linear non-reciprocal photonic devices in the strong coupling limit. While EO approaches are often preferred for their practicality, it is challenging to generate the large spatiotemporal momentum required for inter-modal phase matching without EO drive schemes involving multiple drive stimuli. Here, we demonstrate highly selective non-reciprocal inter-modal EO scattering enabled by a single high-index radiofrequency (RF) traveling wave stimulus. Our experimental demonstration is performed on a thin-film lithium niobate integrated photonics platform, in which we engineer a slow-wave radiofrequency (SWRF) transmission line with an effective RF index > 9 that natively generates the required RF momentum while simultaneously maintaining strong RF-optical mode overlap. By additionally engineering the interaction length, we achieve a directional ~20 dB non-reciprocal scattering contrast. The SWRF architecture provides a scalable route to magnetic-free non-reciprocity and establishes momentum-engineered RF waves as a powerful tool for next-generation, fully integrated non-reciprocal photonic systems.