Comprehensive understanding of parity-time transitions in \mathcal{PT} symmetric photonic crystals with an antiunitary group theory

DOI10.1103/PHYSREVA.95.043803MaRDI QIDQ6281836zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Adam Mock

Publication date 12 January 2017

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.95.043803

Abstract: Electromagnetic materials possessing parity-time symmetry have received significant attention since it was discovered that the eigenmodes of these materials possess either real-frequency eigenvalues or the eigenfrequencies appear in complex-conjugate pairs. Interestingly, some eigenstates of these systems show thresholdless $mathcalPT$ transitions to the complex-conjugate regime, some exhibit a transition as a function of the degree of non-Hermiticity and some show no $mathcalPT$ transition at all. While previous work has provided some insight on the nature of $mathcalPT$ transitions, this work lays out a general and rigorous mathematical framework that is able to predict, based on symmetry alone, whether an eigenmode will exhibit a thresholdless $mathcalPT$ transition or no $mathcalPT$ transition at all. Developed within the context of ferromagnetic solids, Heesh-Shubnikov group theory is an extension of classical group theory that is applicable to antiunitary operators. This work illustrates the Heesh-Shubnikov approach by categorizing the modes of a two-dimensionally periodic photonic lattice that possesses $mathcalPT$ symmetry.

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