Transport characteristics of a $${\mathcal {PT}}$$-symmetric non-Hermitian system: effect of environmental interaction

Abstract

The environmental influence is inevitable but often ignored in the study of electronic transport properties of small-scale systems. Such an environment-mediated interaction can generally be described by a parity-time symmetric non-Hermitian system with a balanced distribution of physical gain and loss. It is quite known in the literature that along with the conventional junction current, another current called bias-driven circular current can be established in a loop geometry depending upon the junction configuration. This current, further, induces a strong magnetic field that can even reach few tesla. What will happen to these quantities when the system interacts with its surrounding environment? Would it exhibit a detrimental response? We address such issues considering a two-terminal ring geometry where the junction setup is described within a tight-binding framework. All the transport quantities are evaluated using the standard Green’s function formalism based on the Landauer–Büttiker approach.