New perspective on chiral exceptional points with application to discrete photonics

TL;DR

This paper offers a new coupled oscillator model perspective on chiral exceptional points in photonics, linking them to dissipation, parity-time symmetry, and extending their study to discrete photonic systems with potential for novel physical effects.

Contribution

It introduces an intuitive coupled oscillator framework for CEPs, connecting them to dissipation and parity-time symmetry, and extends the concept to discrete photonics setups.

Findings

Provides an intuitive understanding of CEP formation.

Unveils a connection between CEPs and parity-time symmetric points.

Extends CEP concepts to coupled resonator and waveguide arrays.

Abstract

Chiral exceptional points (CEPs) have been shown to emerge in traveling wave resonators via asymmetric back scattering from two or more nano-scatterers. Here, we provide a new perspective on the formation of CEPs based on the coupled oscillator model. Our approach provides an intuitive understanding for the modal coalescence that signals the emergence of CEPs, and emphasizes the role played by dissipation throughout this process. In doing so, our model also unveils an otherwise unexplored connection between CEPs and other types of exceptional points associated with parity-time symmetric photonic arrangements. In addition, our model also explains qualitative results observed in recent experimental work involving CEPs. Importantly, the tight-binding nature of our approach allows us to extend the notion of CEP to discrete photonics setups that consist coupled resonator and waveguide arrays, thus opening new avenues for exploring the exotic features of CEPs in conjunction with other interesting physical effects such as nonlinearities and topological protections.