No Arabic abstract
Controlling and reversing the effects of loss are major challenges in optical systems. For lasers losses need to be overcome by a sufficient amount of gain to reach the lasing threshold. We show how to turn losses into gain by steering the parameters of a system to the vicinity of an exceptional point (EP), which occurs when the eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenstates of a system coalesce. In our system of coupled microresonators, EPs are manifested as the loss-induced suppression and revival of lasing. Below a critical value, adding loss annihilates an existing Raman laser. Beyond this critical threshold, lasing recovers despite the increasing loss, in stark contrast to what would be expected from conventional laser theory. Our results exemplify the counterintuitive features of EPs and present an innovative method for reversing the effect of loss.
The next step on the path toward another Earth is to find atmospheres similar to those of Earth and Venus - high-molecular-weight (secondary) atmospheres - on rocky exoplanets. Many rocky exoplanets are born with thick (> 10 kbar) H$_2$-dominated atmospheres but subsequently lose their H$_2$; this process has no known Solar System analog. We study the consequences of early loss of a thick H$_2$ atmosphere for subsequent occurrence of a high-molecular-weight atmosphere using a simple model of atmosphere evolution (including atmosphere loss to space, magma ocean crystallization, and volcanic outgassing). We also calculate atmosphere survival for rocky worlds that start with no H$_2$. Our results imply that most rocky exoplanets orbiting closer to their star than the Habitable Zone that were formed with thick H$_2$-dominated atmospheres lack high-molecular-weight atmospheres today. During early magma ocean crystallization, high-molecular-weight species usually do not form long-lived high-molecular-weight atmospheres; instead they are lost to space alongside H$_2$. This early volatile depletion also makes it more difficult for later volcanic outgassing to revive the atmosphere. However, atmospheres should persist on worlds that start with abundant volatiles (for example, waterworlds). Our results imply that in order to find high-molecular-weight atmospheres on warm exoplanets orbiting M-stars, we should target worlds that formed H$_2$-poor, that have anomalously large radii, or which orbit less active stars.
Brillouin scattering has applications ranging from signal processing, sensing and microscopy, to quantum information and fundamental science. Most of these applications rely on the electrostrictive interaction between light and phonons. Here we show that in liquids optically-induced surface deformations can provide an alternative and far stronger interaction. This allows the demonstration of ultralow threshold Brillouin lasing and strong phonon-mediated optical coupling for the first time. This form of strong coupling is a key capability for Brillouin-reconfigurable optical switches and circuits, for photonic quantum interfaces, and to generate synthetic electromagnetic fields. While applicable to liquids quite generally, our demonstration uses superfluid helium. Configured as a Brillouin gyroscope this provides the prospect of measuring superfluid circulation with unprecedented precision, and to explore the rich physics of quantum fluid dynamics, from quantized vorticity to quantum turbulence.
We study laser generation in 1D distributed feedback lasers with amplifying and lossy layers. We show that when the lasing frequency differs from the transition frequencies of the amplifying medium, loss induced lasing may occur due to the broadening of the resonator mode with increasing loss in the absorbing layers. This broadening leads to a shift in the lasing frequency towards the transition frequency. As a result, the cavity mode interaction with the amplifying medium is enhanced, and the lasing threshold is lowered.
We explore the dynamical consequences of switching the coupling form in a system of coupled oscillators. We consider two types of switching, one where the coupling function changes periodically and one where it changes probabilistically. We find, through bifurcation diagrams and Basin Stability analysis, that there exists a window in coupling strength where the oscillations get suppressed. Beyond this window, the oscillations are revived again. A similar trend emerges with respect to the relative predominance of the coupling forms, with the largest window of fixed point dynamics arising where there is balance in the probability of occurrence of the coupling forms. Further, significantly, more rapid switching of coupling forms yields large regions of oscillation suppression. Lastly, we propose an effective model for the dynamics arising from switched coupling forms and demonstrate how this model captures the basic features observed in numerical simulations and also offers an accurate estimate of the fixed point region through linear stability analysis.
We uncover that the breaking point of the PT-symmetry in optical waveguide arrays has a dramatic impact on light localization induced by the off-diagonal disorder. Specifically, when the gain/loss control parameter approaches a critical value at which PT-symmetry breaking occurs, a fast growth of the coupling between neighboring waveguides causes diffraction to dominate to an extent that light localization is strongly suppressed and statistically averaged width of the output pattern substantially increases. Beyond the symmetry-breaking point localization is gradually restored, although in this regime the power of localized modes grows upon propagation. The strength of localization monotonically increases with disorder at both, broken and unbroken PT-symmetry.