All-optical diode action with Thue-Morse quasiperiodic photonic crystals

We theoretically investigate the possibility of realizing a nonlinear all-optical diode by using the unique field-localization properties (known as Anderson-Kohmoto localization) of Thue-Morse quasiperiodic 1D photonic crystals. The interplay between the intrinsic spatial asymmetry in odd-order Thue-Morse lattices and Kerr nonlinearity gives rise to sharp resonances of perfect transmission that can be used to give a polarization-insensitive, nonreciprocal propagation with a contrast close to unity for low optical intensities. Such nonlinear diode would also represent the first all-optical device which is crucially based on Anderson-like localization.