No Arabic abstract
A system of two coupled semiconductor-based resonators is studied when lasing around an exceptional point. We show that the presence of nonlinear saturation effects can have important ramifications on the transition behavior of this system. In sharp contrast with linear PT-symmetric configurations, nonlinear processes are capable of reversing the order in which the symmetry breaking occurs. Yet, even in the nonlinear regime, the resulting non-Hermitian states still retain the structural form of the corresponding linear eigenvectors expected above and below the phase transition point. The conclusions of our analysis are in agreement with experimental data.
We present a systematic analysis of the stationary regimes of nonlinear parity-time(PT) symmetric laser composed of two coupled fiber cavities. We find that power-dependent nonlinear phase shifters broaden regions of existence of both PT-symmetric and PT-broken modes, and can facilitate transitions between modes of different types. We show the existence of non-stationary regimes and demonstrate an ambiguity of the transition process for some of the unstable states. We also identify the presence of higher-order stationary modes, which return to the initial state periodically after a certain number of round-trips.
We introduce the concept of controlling the nonlinear response of the metamaterial by altering its internal structure. We experimentally demonstrate tuning of the nonlinear response of two coupled split-ring resonators by changing their mutual position. This effect is achieved through modification of the structure of the coupled resonant modes, and their interaction with the incident field. By offsetting the resonators we control the maximum currents through the nonlinear driving elements, which affects the nonlinear response of the system.
We show that non-linear optical structures involving a balanced gain-loss profile, can act as unidirectional optical valves. This is made possible by exploiting the interplay between the fundamental symmetries of parity (P) and time (T), with optical nonlinear effects. This novel unidirectional dynamics is specifically demonstrated for the case of an integrable PT-symmetric nonlinear system.
We reveal a generic connection between the effect of time-reversals and nonlinear wave dynamics in systems with parity-time (PT) symmetry, considering a symmetric optical coupler with balanced gain and loss where these effects can be readily observed experimentally. We show that for intensities below a threshold level, the amplitudes oscillate between the waveguides, and the effects of gain and loss are exactly compensated after each period due to {periodic time-reversals}. For intensities above a threshold level, nonlinearity suppresses periodic time-reversals leading to the symmetry breaking and a sharp beam switching to the waveguide with gain. Another nontrivial consequence of linear PT-symmetry is that the threshold intensity remains the same when the input intensities at waveguides with loss and gain are exchanged.
In this work we first examine transverse and longitudinal fluxes in a $cal PT$-symmetric photonic dimer using a coupled-mode theory. Several surprising understandings are obtained from this perspective: The longitudinal flux shows that the $cal PT$ transition in a dimer can be regarded as a classical effect, despite its analogy to $cal PT$-symmetric quantum mechanics. The longitudinal flux also indicates that the so-called giant amplification in the $cal PT$-symmetric phase is a sub-exponential behavior and does not outperform a single gain waveguide. The transverse flux, on the other hand, reveals that the apparent power oscillations between the gain and loss waveguides in the $cal PT$-symmetric phase can be deceiving in certain cases, where the transverse power transfer is in fact unidirectional. We also show that this power transfer cannot be arbitrarily fast even when the exceptional point is approached. Finally, we go beyond the coupled-mode theory by using the paraxial wave equation and also extend our discussions to a $cal PT$ diamond and a one-dimensional periodic lattice.