Parity-time-symmetric photonic topological insulator.

ABSTRACT: Topological insulators are a concept that originally stems from condensed matter physics. As a corollary to their hallmark protected edge transport, the conventional understanding of such systems holds that they are intrinsically closed, that is, that they are assumed to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world. Here, by demonstrating a parity-time-symmetric topological insulator, we show that topological transport exists beyond these constraints. Implemented on a photonic platform, our non-Hermitian topological system harnesses the complex interplay between a discrete coupling protocol and judiciously placed losses and, as such, inherently constitutes an open system. Nevertheless, even though energy conservation is violated, our system exhibits an entirely real eigenvalue spectrum

SUBMITTER: Fritzsche A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11349580 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature