An interferometric method to estimate the eigenvalues of a Non-Hermitian two-level optical system

TL;DR

This paper introduces an interferometric method to directly estimate both real and imaginary parts of eigenvalues in non-Hermitian optical systems, enabling better characterization of exceptional points and mode degeneracies.

Contribution

It presents a novel interferometric technique for eigenvalue estimation in non-Hermitian optics, overcoming challenges of complex eigenvalue characterization from response spectra.

Findings

Interferometric excitation estimates eigenvalues accurately.

Resonant doublet merges into a Lorentzian under certain conditions.

Degeneracy splitting observed only in one propagation direction.

Abstract

Non-Hermitian physics has found a fertile ground in optics. Recently, the study of mode degeneracies, i.e. exceptional points, has led to the discovery of intriguing and counterintuitive phenomena. Degeneracies are typically modeled through the coupled mode theory to determine the behaviour of eigenstates and eigenvalues. However, the complex nature of the eigenvalues makes hard their direct characterization from the response spectrum. Here, we demonstrate that a coherent interferometric excitation allows estimating both the real and imaginary parts of the eigenvalues. We studied the clockwise and counter-clockwise modes in an optical microresonators both in the case of Hermitian and non-Hermitian intermodal coupling. We show the conditions by which a resonant doublet, due to the dissipative coupling of counter-propagating modes caused by surface roughness backscattering, merges to a single Lorentzian. This permits to estimate the optimal quality factor of the microresonator in the absence of modal coupling caused by backscattering. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a taiji microresonator working at an exceptional point shows a degeneracy splitting only in one propagation direction and not in the other. This follows from the strongly non-Hermitian intermodal coupling caused by the inner S-shaped waveguide.