Nonreciprocal optical Bloch oscillations in garnet/silicon-on-insulator waveguide arrays

We show that nonreciprocal Bloch-like oscillations can emerge in passive optical waveguide arrays with linearly growing effective index in the absence of loss or gain. Spectral asymmetry, a difference in propagation constants and Bloch oscillation periods in opposite propagation directions, are established by imposing different vertical spatial index gradients at the substrate/core, and core/cover interfaces in the presence of transverse magnetization. A model system consisting of an array of transversely magnetized asymmetric garnet/silicon-on-insulator waveguides is presented. © 2011 Materials Research Society