Parity-time Research Articles

Broken phase of parity-time symmetry enables efficient superluminal pulse transmission

Parity-time (PT) symmetric Bragg gratings (PTBGs) exhibit unique band characteristics compared to their traditional counterparts. Notably, when the PT symmetry is broken, the initial bandgap closes, and the upper and lower branches coalesce. We demonstrate that this believed to be novel band dispersion supports fast light, also known as the optical superluminality. A light pulse can propagate through a fiber PTBG with broken PT symmetry, achieving high transmission efficiency (comparable to, and even exceeding, unity) while maintaining its Gaussian shape. This effect offers a significant advantage over superluminal tunneling, where the transmission coefficient is typically very small. We also analyze the transmission of optical precursors and show that they cannot be superluminal, consistent with the principle of causality. This work presents a mechanism for realizing superluminality with some possible applications and underscores the vast potential of non-Hermitian optics.

Localized electric and magnetic tangent loss via parity time symmetry in induced high magneto-optical atomic medium

Localized electric and magnetic tangent loss via parity time symmetry in induced high magneto-optical atomic medium

Dynamic phase transition region in electrically injected PT-symmetric lasers

Research on parity-time (PT) symmetry and exceptional points in non-Hermitian laser systems has been extensively conducted. However, in practical electrically injected PT-symmetric lasers, the frequency detuning and linewidth enhancement factor of the laser can influence the symmetry breaking of the system in another dimension. We find that the previous exceptional point now transforms into a dynamic phase transition region, where the states are temporally unstable, indicating the occurrence of multimode oscillation. The relative phase and field amplitude ratio in this region also exhibit many novel phenomena indicating its instability. This region can be manipulated by adjusting the coupling strength between adjacent waveguides and the pumping intensity in the loss waveguide. Experimentally, we characterize the near-field, far-field, and spectrum of several structures, and the results validate our theoretical model. This work elucidates the dynamic process and phase transition process of electrically injected PT-symmetric lasers, providing support for the practical application of PT-symmetric lasers.

Pure-quartic solitons with PT-symmetric nonlinearity.

We propose a new, to the best of our knowledge, class of soliton based on the interaction of parity-time (PT) symmetric nonlinearity and quartic dispersion or diffraction. This novel kind of soliton is related to the recently discovered pure-quartic solitons (PQS), which arise from the balance of the Kerr nonlinearity and quartic dispersion, through a complex coordinate shift. We find that the PT-symmetric pure-quartic soliton presents important differences with respect to its Hermitian (Kerr) counterpart, including a nontrivial phase structure, a skewed spectral intensity, and a higher power for the same propagation constant. Further analysis reveals these solitons are linearly stable.

Strain-Induced Frequency Splitting in PT Symmetric Coupled Silicon Resonators.

When two resonators of coupled silicon resonators are identical and the gain on one side is equal to the loss on the other side, a parity-time (PT) symmetric-coupled silicon resonator is formed. As non-Hermitian systems, the PT-symmetric systems have exhibited many special properties and interesting phenomena. This paper proposes the strain-induced frequency splitting in PT symmetry-coupled silicon resonators. The frequency splitting of the PT system caused by strain perturbations is derived and simulated. Theory and simulation both indicate that the PT system is more sensitive to strain perturbation near the exceptional point (EP) point. Then, a feedback circuit is designed to achieve the negative damping required for PT symmetry. Based on a simple silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process, the silicon resonator chip is successfully fabricated. After that, the PT-symmetric-coupled silicon resonators are successfully constructed, and the frequency splitting phenomenon caused by strain is observed experimentally.

Kármán Vortex Street in Bose-Einstein Condensate with PT Symmetric Potential

Abstract Kármán vortex street not only exists in nature, but also widely appears in engineering practice, which is of great significance for understanding superfluid. And parity-time (PT) symmetric potential provides a good platform for the study of Kármán vortex street. In this paper, different patterns of vortex shedding formed behind PT symmetric potential in Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) are
simulated numerically. Kármán vortex street and others are discovered to emerge in the wake of a moving obstacle with appropriate parameters. Compared with BEC without PT symmetric potential, the frequency and amplitude of the drag force are more complex. The parametric regions of the combined modes are scattered around the Kármán vortex street. Numerical simulations indicate that the imaginary part of the PT symmetric potential affects the vortex structure patterns. Finally, we proposed an experimental protocol that may observe Kármán vortex street.

Observation of parity-time symmetry for evanescent waves

Parity-time (PT) symmetry has enabled the demonstration of fascinating wave phenomena in non-Hermitian systems characterized by precisely balanced gain and loss. Until now, the exploration and observation of PT symmetry in scattering settings have largely been limited to propagating waves. Here, we demonstrate a versatile coupled-resonator acoustic waveguide (CRAW) system that enables the observation of PT-symmetric scattering responses for evanescent waves within a bandgap. By examining the generalized scattering matrix in the evanescent wave regime, we observe hallmark PT-symmetric phenomena—including phase transitions at an exceptional point, anisotropic transmission resonances, and laser-absorber modes—in systems that do not require balanced distributions of gain and loss. Owing to the peculiar energy transfer features of evanescent waves, our results not only demonstrate a distinct pathway for observing PT symmetry, but also enable strategies for exotic energy tunneling mechanisms, paving fresh directions for wave engineering grounded in non-Hermitian physics.

Transmission enhancement mechanism of PT symmetric photonic crystal coupled with grooved sub-wavelength grating

In order to enhance the sensing characteristics of the sensor, based on the periodic sub-wavelength grating(SWG), a groove structure is introduced to make the Fano resonance waveform sharper. At the same time, based on the Parity-Time(PT) symmetry principle, by making the periodic photonic crystal meet the PT symmetry condition, the structure can absorb the energy of the emitted light on the original basis, produce the transmission enhancement effect, and make the transmission peak of the structure exceed 1. The sensing is realized by using the property that the different refractive indices of the detected medium corresponds to different transmission. When the incident light is 1550 nm, the sensitivity and FOM (Figure of Merit) value of the proposed structure reach 5.702 × 105RIU−1and 1.9 × 107 respectively, which greatly improves the performance of the sensor.

Realizing Multi-Parameter Measurement Using PT-Symmetric LC Sensors.

With the rapid development in sensor network technology, the complexity and diversity of application scenarios have put forward more and more new requirements for inductor-capacitor (LC) sensors, for instance, multi-parameter simultaneous monitoring. Here, the parity-time (PT) symmetry concept in quantum mechanics is applied to LC passive wireless sensing. Two or even three parameters can be monitored simultaneously by observing the frequency response of the reflection coefficient at the end of the readout circuit. In particular, for three-parameter detection, a novel detection method is studied to extract the three resonant frequencies of the system through the phase-frequency characteristics of the reflection coefficient, which has never appeared in the previous literature on PT symmetry. The changes in three resonant frequencies are in response to changes in the three parameters in the environment. We show theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that the PT-symmetric LC sensor can realize multi-parameter measurement using a series LCR circuit as the sensor and a symmetric adjustable LCR circuit as the readout circuit. Our work paves the way for applying PT symmetry in multi-parameter detection.

Time-variant parity-time symmetry in frequency-scanning systems.

Parity-time (PT) symmetry is an active research area that provides a variety of new opportunities for different systems with novel functionalities. For instance, PT symmetry has been used in lasers and optoelectronic oscillators to achieve single-frequency lasing or oscillation. A single-frequency system is essentially a static PT-symmetric system, whose frequency is time-invariant. Here we investigate time-variant PT symmetry in frequency-scanning systems. Time-variant PT symmetry equations and eigenfrequencies for frequency-scanning systems are developed. We show that time-variant PT symmetry can dynamically narrow the instantaneous linewidth of frequency-scanning systems. The instantaneous linewidth of a produced frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) waveform is narrowed by a factor of 14 in the experiment. De-chirping and radar imaging results also show that the time-variant PT-symmetric system outperforms a conventional frequency-scanning one. Our study paves the way for a new class of time-variant PT-symmetric systems and shows great promise for applications including FMCW radar and lidar systems.

Switchable Dual-Wavelength Fiber Laser with Narrow-Linewidth Output Based on Parity-Time Symmetry System and the Cascaded FBG

In this paper, a dual-wavelength narrow-linewidth fiber laser based on parity-time (PT) symmetry theory is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The PT-symmetric filter system consists of two optical couplers (OCs), four polarization controllers (PCs), a polarization beam splitter (PBS), and cascaded fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs), enabling stable switchable dual-wavelength output and single longitudinal-mode (SLM) operation. The realization of single-frequency oscillation requires precise tuning of the PCs to match gain, loss, and coupling coefficients to ensure that the PT-broken phase occurs. During single-wavelength operation at 1548.71 nm (λ1) over a 60-min period, power and wavelength fluctuations were observed to be 0.94 dB and 0.01 nm, respectively, while for the other wavelength at 1550.91 nm (λ2), fluctuations were measured at 0.76 dB and 0.01 nm. The linewidths of each wavelength were 1.01 kHz and 0.89 kHz, with a relative intensity noise (RIN) lower than −117 dB/Hz. Under dual-wavelength operation, the maximum wavelength fluctuations for λ1 and λ2 were 0.03 nm and 0.01 nm, respectively, with maximum power fluctuations of 3.23 dB and 2.38 dB. The SLM laser source is suitable for applications in long-distance fiber-optic sensing and coherent LiDAR detection.

Manipulation of edge states in non-Hermitian acoustic Su Schrieffer Heeger chains

A distinctive feature of topology is its unique ability to obtain and control robust interface states. Among other elements, it has been shown that non-Hermiticity alone can trigger topological phase transition in physical systems. In this work, we construct acoustic Su Schrieffer Heeger(SSH) chains using different unit cells where only the non Hermitian components differ due to different distributions of onsite losses. Our study focus on exploring the emergence of edge states at the interfaces between two chains composed of different unit cells. Our findings delineate three distinct types of edge modes. The topological, cavity and Parity-Time edge modes originate from the topological phase of the unit cells, the local parity symmetry at the interface and the existence of a Parity Time symmetric domain wall, respectively. We then compare the robustness of these different edge modes against disorder, confirming the robustness of the topological edge modes. Parity Time edge states demonstrate superior robustness compared to classical cavity modes for low level of disorder. However, beyond a certain threshold, their eigenfrequencies importantly diverge.

Effect of parity–time symmetry operation on entanglement distribution in two parallel Heisenberg spin chains

Abstract The effect of the parity–time ( PT ) symmetry operation on the entanglement transfer in two parallel Heisenberg spin chains is investigated. We give two schemes, i.e. pre- and post- PT symmetric operations, to demonstrate the performance of the PT symmetric operation on the entanglement dynamics of two qubits. In our investigation, we find that the effect of pre- PT symmetric operation schemes on the protection of entanglement of two qubits in the case of double spin chains is superior to that of the single spin chain case. Conversely, the effect of the post- PT symmetric operation scheme on the protection of entanglement of two qubits in the single spin chain case is better than that in the double spin chain case.

Charge Parity Time (CPT) from the lens of an experimental physicist

Abstract The domain of Charge Parity Time (CPT) symmetries has intrigued physicists for the better part of a century. Whilst the CPT theorem—a core principle asserting the combined invariance of charge conjugation, parity transformation and time reversal in quantum field theories—is foundational in modern theoretical physics, its implications are rooted deeply in the experiments that have confirmed or refuted our understanding. This paper delves into the world of CPT from an experimental physicist’s viewpoint.

Three types of third-order non-Hermitian interaction of spontaneous six-wave and eight-wave mixing under multi-dressing effects

Non-Hermitian degeneracy, also known as exceptional point, has been recently seen as a new way to engineer the response of open physical systems. Based on natural non-Hermitian atomic coherence, we investigate spontaneous six-wave mixing (SSWM) and eight-wave mixing (SEWM) processes under both parity–time (PT) and anti-parity–time (anti-PT) symmetry, and we obtain high-dimensional coherent channels under third-order energy-level splitting. Finally, we reveal that the third-order non-Hermitian interaction between two dressing fields of the nested scheme is the strongest, and the parallel scheme is the weakest, with the cascade scheme considered intermediate between them. It can also be used to develop quantum memory devices with enhanced sensitivity in the atom-like system.

Angular excitation of exceptional points and pseudospetra of photonic lattices

Abstract Optical parity-time ( PT ) symmetry has triggered a plethora of theoretical and experimental studies, and as a result non-Hermitian photonics is one of the frontiers of optics today. From unidirectional invisibility and coherent perfect absorbers to wireless power transfer and ultrasensitive sensors, non-hermiticity led to numerous important applications that rely on gain-loss synthetic structures. In particular, one such structure is that of complex photonic lattices that may exhibit exceptional points (EPs) around which the corresponding sensitivity is increased by orders of magnitude. Here, we investigate a new multiparametric family of non-Hermitian lattices that respects PT -symmetry, and examine their spectral sensitivity in terms of pseudospectra, as well, the angular excitation of the underlying EPs.

Storing light near an exceptional point

Photons with zero rest mass are impossible to be stopped. However, a pulse of light can be slowed down and even halted through strong light-matter interaction in a dispersive medium in atomic systems. Exceptional point (EP), a non-Hermitian singularity point, can introduce an abrupt transition in dispersion. Here we experimentally observe room-temperature storing light near an exceptional point induced by nonlinear Brillouin scattering in a chip-scale 90-μm-radius optical microcavity, the smallest platform up to date to store light. Through nonlinear coupling, a Parity-Time (PT) symmetry can be constructed in optical-acoustical hybrid modes, where Brillouin scattering-induced absorption (BSIA) can lead to both slow light and fast light of incoming pulses. A subtle transition of slow-to-fast light reveals a critical point for storing a light pulse up to half a millisecond. This compact and room-temperature scheme of storing light paves the way for practical applications in all-optical communications and quantum information processing.

Centrosymmetric multipole solitons with fractional-order diffraction in two-dimensional parity-time-symmetric optical lattices

Multipole solitons in higher-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation with fractional diffraction are of high current interest. This paper studies multipole gap solitons in parity-time (PT)-symmetric lattices with fractional diffraction. The results obtained demonstrate that both on-site and off-site eight-pole solitons with fractional-order diffraction can be stabilized in a two-dimensional (2D) PT-symmetric optical lattice with defocusing Kerr nonlinearity. These solitons are in-phase and centrosymmetric. On-site eight-pole solitons propagate in a square formation, while off-site solitons propagate in a two-by-four formation. Both on-site and off-site solitons are found to be stable within a low-power range in the first band gap. As the Lévy index decreases, the stability regions of both on-site and off-site solitons narrow. Off-site eight-pole solitons can approach the lower edge of the first Bloch band, whereas on-site eight-pole solitons cannot. Additionally, we investigate the transverse power flow vector of these multipole gap solitons, illustrating the transverse energy flow from gain to loss regions.

Magnetic symmetries of terbium tetraboride (TbB4) revealed by resonant x-ray Bragg diffraction

A recent experimental study of TbB4 at a low temperature using resonant x-ray Bragg diffraction implies a magnetic symmetry not found in any other rare-earth tetraboride. The evidence for this assertion is a change in the intensity of a TbB4 Bragg spot on reversing the handedness (chirality) of the primary x-ray beam [R. Misawa, K. Arakawa, T. Yoshioka, H. Ueda, F. Iga, K. Tamasaku, Y. Tanaka, and T. Kimura, ]. It reveals a magnetic chiral signature in TbB4 that is forbidden in phases of rare-earth tetraborides known to date, as the previous magnetic symmetries are parity-time (PT) symmetric with anti-inversion present in the magnetic crystal class. Misawa appeal to a PT-symmetric diffraction pattern to interpret their interesting diffraction patterns. In addition to the use of symmetry that does not permit a chiral signature, calculated patterns impose cylindrical symmetry on Tb sites with no justification. We review magnetic symmetries for TbB4 consistent with a published neutron powder diffraction pattern and susceptibility measurements. On the basis of this information, noncollinear antiferromagnetic order exists below a temperature ≈44 K with no ferromagnetic component. Our symmetry-informed patterns encapsulate Tb electronic degrees of freedom in terms of multipoles consistent with established sum rules for dichroic signals. The investigated symmetry templates are noncentrosymmetric, noncollinear antiferromagnetic constructions with propagation vector k=(0,0,0). An inferred chiral signature for a parity-even absorption event has an interesting composition. There is the anticipated product of Tb axial dipoles and chargelike quadrupoles (from Templeton-Templeton scattering). Beyond this contribution, though, symmetry allows a product of dipoles in the chiral signature. A predicted change in the intensity of a Bragg spot with rotation of the crystal about the reflection vector (an azimuthal angle scan) can be tested in future experiments. Likewise contributions to Bragg diffraction patterns from Tb anapoles and higher-order Dirac multipoles. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Bulk-entanglement spectrum correspondence in PT - and PC -symmetric topological insulators and superconductors

In this study, we discuss a type of bulk-boundary correspondence, which holds for topological insulators and superconductors when the parity-time (PT) and/or parity-particle-hole (PC) symmetry are present. In these systems, even when the bulk topology is nontrivial, the edge spectrum is generally gapped, and thus the conventional bulk-boundary correspondence does not hold. We find that, instead of the edge spectrum, the single-particle entanglement spectrum becomes gapless when the bulk topology is nontrivial: i.e., the holds in PT- and/or PC-symmetric topological insulators and superconductors. After showing the correspondence using K-theoretic approach, we provide concrete models for each symmetry class up to three dimensions where nontrivial topology because of PT and/or PC is expected. An implication of our results is that, when the bulk topology under PT and/or PC symmetry is nontrivial, the noninteracting many-body entanglement spectrum is multiply degenerate in one dimension and is gapless in two or higher dimensions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024