Optical diode using nonlinear polystyrene ring resonators in two-dimensional photonic crystal structure.

An optical diode that uses nonlinear ring resonators in 2D photonic crystal is numerically simulated by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Nonlinear polystyrene is used as the Kerr medium forming ring resonators. The operating wavelength of the optical diode is considered to be the coupling wavelength at which light couples efficiently from waveguide to ring resonator, which is also equal to the average of the resonant wavelengths of the two resonators considered in the proposed structure. For both forward and backward propagation, the characteristics of the proposed optical diode are similar to those of an electronic diode. FDTD simulation is done using the MEEP package, which exhibits the desired results.