Controlling electric, magnetic, and chiral dipolar emission with PT-symmetric potentials

TL;DR

This paper explores how PT-symmetric optical potentials can dramatically enhance and control the emission properties of achiral and chiral emitters, enabling new quantum optics and enantio-specific applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates the influence of PT-symmetric potentials on emitter radiation, revealing mode coalescence, exceptional points, and tunable emission behaviors not previously shown.

Findings

Dipole power can be enhanced by orders of magnitude near exceptional points.

Chiral emitters show a 4.5-fold difference in decay rates near PT metamaterials.

Emitter behavior can be tuned from strong source to absorber via non-Hermiticity.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of parity-time (PT)-symmetric optical potentials on the radiation of achiral and chiral emitters. Mode coalescence and the appearance of exceptional points lead to orders-of-magnitude enhancements in the emitted dipole power. Further, the emitter can be tuned to behave as a strong optical source or absorber based on the non-Hermiticity parameter. Chiral enantiomers radiating near PT metamaterials exhibit a 4.5-fold difference in their decay rate. The results of this work could enable new atom-cavity interactions for quantum optics, as well as all- optical enantio-specific separation.