Observation of PT-Symmetry Breaking in Complex Optical Potentials

    Authors

    A. Guo; G. J. Salamo; D. Duchesne; R. Morandotti; M. Volatier-Ravat; V. Aimez; G. A. Siviloglou;D. N. Christodoulides

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Phys. Rev. Lett.

    Keywords

    NON-HERMITIAN HAMILTONIANS; REAL; EIGENVALUES; CAVITY; LIGHT; Physics, Multidisciplinary

    Abstract

    In 1998, Bender and Boettcher found that a wide class of Hamiltonians, even though non-Hermitian, can still exhibit entirely real spectra provided that they obey parity-time requirements or PT symmetry. Here we demonstrate experimentally passive PT-symmetry breaking within the realm of optics. This phase transition leads to a loss induced optical transparency in specially designed pseudo-Hermitian guiding potentials.

    Journal Title

    Physical Review Letters

    Volume

    103

    Issue/Number

    9

    Publication Date

    1-1-2009

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    4

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000269718500032

    ISSN

    0031-9007

    Share

    COinS