Photonic transition occurs in optical structures that have a time-varying refractive index. The photons experiencing a photonic transition can hop from one optical mode to another, which not only leads to a redistribution of photon numbers in each of the optical modes, but also an extra imparted nonreciprocal phase for the photons. On the other hand, photonics become increasingly important especially in the telecommunication industry because electrical interconnects have clearly reached its limits, and the demand of high performance active silicon photonics devices such as modulators and isolators become greater. In this thesis, I will show both in theory and experiment, by inducing photonic transitions using basic silicon photonics modulators, CMOS compatible high frequency modulators and isolators can be realized. In addition, I will also show in theory that the non-reciprocal phase associated with photonic transitions can be utilized to generate an effective magnetic field for light. This effective magnetic field not only adds an extra degree of control to the flow of light, but also supresses optical backscattering, which is particularly important since the silicon waveguides made nowadays are both low loss and sensitive. In this thesis, I will also show, both in theory and experiment, a pratical path to realize such an effective magnetic field using silicon resonators.