# Effect of loss on the topological features of dimer chain described by the extended Aubry-Andr\'e-Harper model

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how introducing loss to one sublattice in a dimer chain modeled by the extended Aubry-André-Harper model affects its topological properties, revealing increased real band-gap regions and robustness of edge states.

## Contribution

It demonstrates that loss extends the parameter space for real band-gap closure and shows the persistence of topological features despite disorder, proposing an experimental setup for observation.

## Key findings

- Loss increases the parameter region for real band-gap closure.
- Average displacement still reveals topological features with loss.
- Zero energy eigenstates are robust against certain disorders.

## Abstract

By introducing loss to one sublattice of a dimer chain described by the extended Aubry-Andr\'e or Harper (AAH) model, we study the topological features including the edge states, spectrum and winding number of the chain. We find that the parameter region for the system to have real band-gap-closing is increased due to the loss, and the average displacement of the single excitation can still witness the topological features of the chain in the presence of loss. The robustness of the zero energy eigenstate against four kinds of disorders is also examined. A feasible experiment setup based on coupled waveguides to observe the prediction of this paper is proposed.