Microwave studies of the three chiral ensembles in chains of coupled dielectric resonators

TL;DR

This study experimentally investigates the spectral properties of chiral random matrix ensembles using microwave resonators, confirming theoretical predictions and analyzing finite-size effects and logarithmic corrections.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental realization of all three chiral ensembles (orthogonal, unitary, symplectic) using dielectric resonators and microwave techniques.

Findings

Verification of eigenvalue repulsion near zero energy

Finite-size effects show logarithmic corrections

Experimental realization of chiral ensembles

Abstract

Random matrix theory has proven very successful in the understanding of the spectra of chaotic systems. Depending on symmetry with respect to time reversal and the presence or absence of a spin 1/2 there are three ensembles, the Gaussian orthogonal (GOE), Gaussian unitary (GUE), and Gaussian symplectic (GSE) one. With a further particle-antiparticle symmetry the chiral variants of these ensembles, the chiral orthogonal, unitary, and symplectic ensembles (the BDI, AIII, and CII in Cartan's notation) appear which are the main point of interest in this paper. Following a recently published work on chiral random matrix ensembles and their experimental realizations (Rehemanjiang et al., PRL 124, 116801 (2020)), this is achieved by using dielectric cylinders placed between two parallel aluminium plates. These cylinders act as microwave resonators which are used to create tight-binding chains of finite length up to N=5. The different ensembles are achieved by using different types of couplings: For the orthogonal case spatial proximity is used, for the unitary case microwave circulators are used, and for the symplectic case a combination of circulators and cables is used to create the necessary symmetry. In all cases the predicted repulsion behavior between positive and negative eigenvalues for energies close to zero are verified by a comparison with theory taking the finite size of the systems into account. We will show that the difference to the expected universal behavior is given by logarithmic corrections only. These corrections stem from the Hamiltonians having zero entries in their off-diagonal blocks.