Revisiting the Optical PT-Symmetric Dimer
Optics has proved a fertile ground for the experimental simulation of quantum mechanics. Most recently, optical realizations of PT -symmetric quantum mechanics have been shown, both theoretically and experimentally, opening the door to international efforts aiming at the design of practical opt...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-08-01
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| Series: | Symmetry |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/8/9/83 |
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| author | José Delfino Huerta Morales Julio Guerrero Servando López-Aguayo Blas Manuel Rodríguez-Lara |
| author_facet | José Delfino Huerta Morales Julio Guerrero Servando López-Aguayo Blas Manuel Rodríguez-Lara |
| author_sort | José Delfino Huerta Morales |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Optics has proved a fertile ground for the experimental simulation of quantum mechanics. Most recently, optical realizations of PT -symmetric quantum mechanics have been shown, both theoretically and experimentally, opening the door to international efforts aiming at the design of practical optical devices exploiting this symmetry. Here, we focus on the optical PT -symmetric dimer, a two-waveguide coupler where the materials show symmetric effective gain and loss, and provide a review of the linear and nonlinear optical realizations from a symmetry-based point of view. We go beyond a simple review of the literature and show that the dimer is just the smallest of a class of planar N-waveguide couplers that are the optical realization of the Lorentz group in 2 + 1 dimensions. Furthermore, we provide a formulation to describe light propagation through waveguide couplers described by non-Hermitian mode coupling matrices based on a non-Hermitian generalization of the Ehrenfest theorem. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T18:21:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4b55134b584f495cb6d16e38461e45b0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-8994 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T18:21:59Z |
| publishDate | 2016-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Symmetry |
| spelling | doaj.art-4b55134b584f495cb6d16e38461e45b02022-12-22T04:09:44ZengMDPI AGSymmetry2073-89942016-08-01898310.3390/sym8090083sym8090083Revisiting the Optical PT-Symmetric DimerJosé Delfino Huerta Morales0Julio Guerrero1Servando López-Aguayo2Blas Manuel Rodríguez-Lara3Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, Calle Luis Enrique Erro No. 1, Sta. Ma. Tonantzintla, Pue. CP 72840, MexicoDepartamento de Matemática Aplicada, Facultad de Informática, Campus Espinardo, Univesidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, SpainPhotonics and Mathematical Optics Group, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, MexicoInstituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, Calle Luis Enrique Erro No. 1, Sta. Ma. Tonantzintla, Pue. CP 72840, MexicoOptics has proved a fertile ground for the experimental simulation of quantum mechanics. Most recently, optical realizations of PT -symmetric quantum mechanics have been shown, both theoretically and experimentally, opening the door to international efforts aiming at the design of practical optical devices exploiting this symmetry. Here, we focus on the optical PT -symmetric dimer, a two-waveguide coupler where the materials show symmetric effective gain and loss, and provide a review of the linear and nonlinear optical realizations from a symmetry-based point of view. We go beyond a simple review of the literature and show that the dimer is just the smallest of a class of planar N-waveguide couplers that are the optical realization of the Lorentz group in 2 + 1 dimensions. Furthermore, we provide a formulation to describe light propagation through waveguide couplers described by non-Hermitian mode coupling matrices based on a non-Hermitian generalization of the Ehrenfest theorem.http://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/8/9/83PT-symmetric dimeroptical waveguide couplersmode coupling theorynonlinear waveguide couplersphotonic integrated circuits |
| spellingShingle | José Delfino Huerta Morales Julio Guerrero Servando López-Aguayo Blas Manuel Rodríguez-Lara Revisiting the Optical PT-Symmetric Dimer Symmetry PT-symmetric dimer optical waveguide couplers mode coupling theory nonlinear waveguide couplers photonic integrated circuits |
| title | Revisiting the Optical PT-Symmetric Dimer |
| title_full | Revisiting the Optical PT-Symmetric Dimer |
| title_fullStr | Revisiting the Optical PT-Symmetric Dimer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revisiting the Optical PT-Symmetric Dimer |
| title_short | Revisiting the Optical PT-Symmetric Dimer |
| title_sort | revisiting the optical pt symmetric dimer |
| topic | PT-symmetric dimer optical waveguide couplers mode coupling theory nonlinear waveguide couplers photonic integrated circuits |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/8/9/83 |
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