Bistable diode action in left-handed periodic structures

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2005 Mar;71(3 Pt 2B):037602. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.71.037602. Epub 2005 Mar 23.

Abstract

We study nonlinear transmission of an asymmetric multilayer structure created by alternating slabs of two materials with positive and negative refractive indices. We demonstrate that such a structure exhibits passive spatially nonreciprocal transmission of electromagnetic waves, the analog of the electronic diode. We study the properties of this left-handed diode and confirm its highly nonreciprocal and bistable transmittance by employing direct simulations.