Anyonic-parity-time symmetry in complex-coupled lasers

TL;DR

This paper explores and experimentally demonstrates anyonic-PT symmetry in coupled lasers with complex coupling, revealing new control over symmetry-breaking and linking laser synchronization to non-Hermitian Hamiltonian symmetry.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of anyonic-PT symmetry in laser systems and experimentally verifies control over symmetry-breaking using complex coupling.

Findings

Experimental validation of anyonic-PT symmetry in coupled lasers

Control over symmetry and symmetry-breaking through complex coupling

Established a relation between laser synchronization and Hamiltonian symmetry

Abstract

Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, and particularly parity-time (PT) and anti-PT symmetric Hamiltonians, play an important role in many branches of physics, from quantum mechanics to optical systems and acoustics. Both the PT and anti-PT symmetries are specific instances of a broader class known as anyonic-PT symmetry, where the Hamiltonian and the PT operator satisfy a generalized commutation relation. Here, we study theoretically these novel symmetries and demonstrate them experimentally in coupled lasers systems. We resort to complex coupling of mixed dispersive and dissipative nature, which allows unprecedented control on the location in parameter space where the symmetry and symmetry-breaking occur. Moreover, tuning the coupling in the same physical system, allows us to realize the special cases of PT and anti-PT symmetries. In a more general perspective, we present and experimentally validate a new relation between laser synchronization and the symmetry of the underlying non-Hermitian Hamiltonian.