Asymmetric Light Propagation in Active Photonic Structures

This thesis will present a theoretical and numerical analysis of optical systems exhibiting non-reciprocity, with potential applications in the field of integrated opto-electronic circuits. We will carefully engineer structures with highly-asymmetric transport properties, where traits such as reflectance and transmittance are dependent upon the incident direction of the interrogating waves. This will be achieved through appropriately engineered amplifying and attenuating mechanisms in spatial arrangements obeying parity-time symmetries, as well as the implementation of magneto-optical elements. It will be demonstrated that such structures are good candidates for the development of novel devices serving the purposes of optical isolators and unidirectional lasers in integrated photonic technologies.