Observation of exceptional points in reconfigurable non-Hermitian vector-field holographic lattices

Choloong Hahn, Youngsun Choi, Jae Woong Yoon (), Seok Ho Song (), Cha Hwan Oh and Pierre Berini
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Choloong Hahn: Hanyang University
Youngsun Choi: Hanyang University
Jae Woong Yoon: Hanyang University
Seok Ho Song: Hanyang University
Cha Hwan Oh: Hanyang University
Pierre Berini: School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Recently, synthetic optical materials represented via non-Hermitian Hamiltonians have attracted significant attention because of their nonorthogonal eigensystems, enabling unidirectionality, nonreciprocity and unconventional beam dynamics. Such systems demand carefully configured complex optical potentials to create skewed vector spaces with a desired metric distortion. In this paper, we report optically generated non-Hermitian photonic lattices with versatile control of real and imaginary sub-lattices. In the proposed method, such lattices are generated by vector-field holographic interference of two elliptically polarized pump beams on azobenzene-doped polymer thin films. We experimentally observe violation of Friedel’s law of diffraction, indicating the onset of complex lattice formation. We further create an exact parity-time symmetric lattice to demonstrate totally asymmetric diffraction at the spontaneous symmetry-breaking threshold, referred to as an exceptional point. On this basis, we provide the experimental demonstration of reconfigurable non-Hermitian photonic lattices in the optical domain and observe the purest exceptional point ever reported to date.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12201

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12201

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