Chiral State Conversion in a Levitated Micromechanical Oscillator with In Situ Control of Parameter Loops*Supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. WK2030000032), the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFA0306600), the CAS (Grant Nos. GJJSTD20170001 and QYZDY-SSW-SLH004), and Anhui Initiative in Quantum Information Technologies (Grant No. AHY050000).

Abstract

Physical systems with gain and loss can be described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, which is degenerated at the exceptional points (EPs). Many new and unexpected features have been explored in the non-Hermitian systems with a great deal of recent interest. One of the most fascinating features is that chiral state conversion appears when one EP is encircled dynamically. Here, we propose an easy-controllable levitated microparticle system that carries a pair of EPs and realize slow evolution of the Hamiltonian along loops in the parameter plane. Utilizing the controllable rotation angle, gain and loss coefficients, we can control the structure, size and location of the loops in situ. We demonstrate that, under the joint action of topological structure of energy surfaces and nonadiabatic transitions, the chiral behavior emerges both along a loop encircling an EP and even along a straight path away from the EP. This work broadens the range of parameter space for the chiral state conversion, and proposes a useful platform to explore the interesting properties of exceptional points physics.