Open AccessDynamics for encircling an exceptional point in a nonlinear non-Hermitian system
Author(s) -
Haiwen Wang,
Sid Assawaworrarit,
Shanhui Fan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
optics letters/optics index
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.524
H-Index - 272
eISSN - 1071-2763
pISSN - 0146-9592
DOI - 10.1364/ol.44.000638
Subject(s) - bistability , resonator , nonlinear system , physics , optics , optical bistability , nonlinear optics , hermitian matrix , dynamics (music) , quantum mechanics , acoustics
We study the dynamics near an exceptional point in a nonlinear non-Hermitian system consisting of a pair of resonators. One of the resonators has a linear loss, and the other resonator has a saturable gain. We show that the system dynamics exhibit chiral characteristics. And moreover, unique to the nonlinear system, such dynamics allow one to adiabatically switch between bistable states at the same system parameter. Such bistable switching is potentially interesting in optical memory based on coupled laser systems.