No Arabic abstract
Classical open systems with balanced gain and loss, i.e. parity-time ($mathcal{PT}$) symmetric systems, have attracted tremendous attention over the past decade. Their exotic properties arise from exceptional point (EP) degeneracies of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians that govern their dynamics. In recent years, increasingly sophisticated models of $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric systems with time-periodic (Floquet) driving, time-periodic gain and loss, and time-delayed coupling have been investigated, and such systems have been realized across numerous platforms comprising optics, acoustics, mechanical oscillators, optomechanics, and electrical circuits. Here, we introduce a $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric (balanced gain and loss) system with memory, and investigate its dynamics analytically and numerically. Our model consists of two coupled $LC$ oscillators with positive and negative resistance, respectively. We introduce memory by replacing either the resistor with a memristor, or the coupling inductor with a meminductor, and investigate the circuit energy dynamics as characterized by $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric or $mathcal{PT}$-symmetry broken phases. Due to the resulting nonlinearity, we find that energy dynamics depend on the sign and strength of initial voltages and currents, as well as the distribution of initial circuit energy across its different components. Surprisingly, at strong inputs, the system exhibits self-organized Floquet dynamics, including $mathcal{PT}$-symmetry broken phase at vanishingly small dissipation strength. Our results indicate that $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric systems with memory show a rich landscape.
In this work, we propose a PT-symmetric coupler whose arms are birefringent waveguides as a realistic physical model which leads to a so-called quadrimer i.e., a four complex field setting. We seek stationary solutions of the resulting linear and nonlinear model, identifying its linear point of PT symmetry breaking and examining the corresponding nonlinear solutions that persist up to this point, as well as, so-called, ghost states that bifurcate from them. We obtain the relevant symmetry breaking bifurcations and numerically follow the associated dynamics which give rise to growth/decay even within the PT-symmetric phase. Our obtained stationary nonlinear solutions are found to terminate in saddle-center bifurcations which are analogous to the linear PT-phase transition.
We explore the photon transfer in the nonlinear parity-time-symmetry system of two coupled cavities, which contains nonlinear gain and loss dependent on the intracavity photons. Analytical solution to the steady state gives a saturated gain, which satisfy the parity-time symmetry automatically. The eigen-frequency self-adapts the nonlinear saturated gain to reach the maximum efficiency in the steady state. We find that the saturated gain in the weak coupling regime does not match the loss in the steady state, exhibiting an appearance of a spontaneous symmetry-breaking. The photon transmission efficiency in the parity-time-symmetric regime is robust against the variation of the coupling strength, which improves the results of the conventional methods by tuning the frequency or the coupling strength to maintain optimal efficiency. Our scheme provides an experimental platform for realizing the robust photon transfer in cavities with nonlinear parity-time symmetry.
Non-Hermitian systems with parity-time ($mathcal{PT}$) symmetry give rise to exceptional points (EPs) with exceptional properties that arise due to the coalescence of eigenvectors. Such systems have been extensively explored in the classical domain, where second or higher order EPs have been proposed or realized. In contrast, quantum information studies of $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric systems have been confined to systems with a two-dimensional Hilbert space. Here by using a single-photon interferometry setup, we simulate quantum dynamics of a four-dimensional $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric system across a fourth-order exceptional point. By tracking the coherent, non-unitary evolution of the density matrix of the system in $mathcal{PT}$-symmetry unbroken and broken regions, we observe the entropy dynamics for both the entire system, and the gain and loss subsystems. Our setup is scalable to the higher-dimensional $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric systems, and our results point towards the rich dynamics and critical properties.
Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians play an important role in many branches of physics, from quantum mechanics to acoustics. In particular, the realization of PT, and more recently -- anti-PT symmetries in optical systems has proved to be of great value from both the fundamental as well as the practical perspectives. Here, we study theoretically and demonstrate experimentally a novel anyonic-PT symmetry in a coupled lasers system. This is achieved using complex coupling -- of mixed dispersive and dissipative nature, which allows unprecedented control on the location in parameter space where the symmetry and symmetry-breaking occur. Moreover, our method allows us to realize the more familiar special cases of PT and anti-PT symmetries using the same physical system. In a more general perspective, we present and experimentally validate a new relation between laser synchronization and the symmetry of the underlying non-Hermitian Hamiltonian.
We show that the no-signaling principle can be violated with classical inseparable beams in the presence of a parity-time (PT) symmetric subsystem. Thus, the problems associated to PT-symmetric quantum theories recently discovered by Lee et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 130404 (2014)] are not exclusive to quantum mechanics, but already exist in the classical case. The possibility to implement local optical PT-symmetric subsystems via light-matter interactions enables the experimental exploration of local PT symmetry and subtle quantum concepts via classical analogues.