No Arabic abstract
We find that a new type of non-reciprocal modes exist at an interface between two emph{parity-time} ($mathcal{PT}$) symmetric magnetic domains (MDs) near the frequency of zero effective permeability. The new mode is non-propagating and purely magnetic when the two MDs are semi-infinite while it becomes propagating in the finite case. In particular, two pronounced nonreciprocal responses could be observed via the excitation of this mode: one-way optical tunneling for oblique incidence and unidirectional beam shift at normal incidence. When the two MDs system becomes finite in size, it is found that perfect-transmission mode could be achieved if $mathcal{PT}$-symmetry is maintained. The unique properties of such an unusual mode are investigated by analytical modal calculation as well as numerical simulations. The results suggest a new approach to the design of compact optical isolator.
Photonic systems with parity-time (PT) symmetry and topology are attracting considerable attentions. In this work, topological near-zero edge states are studied in PT-symmetric photonic lattice and the results indicate that the near-zero edge states can be broken spontaneously in spite of the unbroken PT symmetry. To achieve the stable topological near-zero mode, a binary lattice with carefully designed PT-symmetric is proposed. Further study shows such a structure supports a stable topological interface state experiences phase transition similar to the bulk states in infinite lattice and thus possess real-eigenvalues even with unbroken PT phase. Our study enriches the content of non-Hermitian topological physics and might have potential applications in the fields of topological lasing and quantum computation.
We demonstrate experimentally that stable single longitudinal mode operation can be readily achieved in PT-symmetric arrangements of coupled microring resonators. Whereas any active resonator is in principle capable of displaying single-wavelength operation, selective breaking of PT-symmetry can be utilized to systematically enhance the maximum achievable gain of this mode, even if a large number of competing longitudinal or transverse resonator modes fall within the amplification bandwidth of the inhomogeneously broadened active medium. This concept is robust with respect to fabrication tolerances, and its mode selectivity is established without the need for additional components or specifically designed filters. Our results may pave the way for a new generation of versatile cavities lasing at a desired longitudinal resonance. Along these lines, traditionally highly multi-moded microring resonator configurations can be fashioned to suppress all but one longitudinal mode.
We demonstrate the creation of robust localized zero-energy states that are induced into topologically trivial systems by insertion of a PT-symmetric defect with local gain and loss. A pair of robust localized states induced by the defect turns into zero-energy modes when the gain-loss contrast exceeds a threshold, at which the defect states encounter an exceptional point. Our approach can be used to obtain robust lasing or perfectly absorbing modes in any part of the system.
Plasmonics aims to interface photonics and electronics. Finding optical, near-field analogues of much used electro-technical components is crucial to the success of such a platform. Here we present the plasmonic analogue of a non-reciprocal antenna. For non-reciprocality in a plasmonic context, the optical excitation and emission resonances of the antenna need to be an orthogonal set. We show that nonlinear excitation of metal nanoantennas creates a sufficient shift between excitation and emission wavelengths that they can be interpreted as decoupled, allowing for independent tuning of excitation and emission properties along different spatial dimensions. This leads, for given excitation wavelength and polarization, to independent optimization of emission intensity, frequency spectrum, polarization and angular spectrum. Non-reciprocal optical antennas of both gold and aluminum are characterized and shown to be useful as e.g. nonlinear signal transducers or nanoscale sources of widely tunable light.
We show that complex PT-symmetric photonic lattices can lead to a new class of self-imaging Talbot effects. For this to occur, we find that the input field pattern, has to respect specific periodicities which are dictated by the symmetries of the system. While at the spontaneous PT-symmetry breaking point, the image revivals occur at Talbot lengths governed by the characteristics of the passive lattice, at the exact phase it depends on the gain and loss parameter thus allowing one to control the imaging process.