Stable lossless polaritons on non-Hermitian optical interfaces

Abstract

Surface polaritons, e.g., surface plasmon polaritons, are invaluable tools in nanophotonics. However, considerable plasmon loss narrows the application regime of plasmonic devices. Here we reveal some general conditions for lossless surface polaritons to emerge at the interface of a gain and a loss media. The gain medium does not only compensate the energy loss, but also modifies surface wave oscillation mechanisms. A new type of surface polaritons induced by the sign switch of the imaginary part of the permittivity across the interface is discovered. The surface polaritons exhibit spin Hall effect due to spin-momentum locking and unique Berry phase. The spin Hall coefficient changes the sign across the parity-time symmetric limit and becomes quantized for perfect metal-dielectric interface and for dielectric-dielectric interface with very large permittivity contrast, carrying opposite topological numbers. Our study opens a new direction for manipulating light with surface polaritons in non-Hermitian optical systems.