Fast wave transport in two-dimensional $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric lattices

TL;DR

This paper investigates wave dynamics in two-dimensional non-Hermitian $ ext{PT}$-symmetric lattices, demonstrating tunable, stable, and direction-sensitive wave transport with potential applications in designing advanced planar media.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic method to control wave velocity and stability in non-Hermitian lattices using onsite and inter-site couplings, supported by experimental realization.

Findings

Enhanced direction-sensitive group velocity in non-Hermitian lattices

Derived stability conditions for wave packet evolution

Experimental demonstration using topolectric metamaterials

Abstract

We present a theoretical investigation of wave dynamics in two-dimensional non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric lattices, where onsite, as well as inter-site control couplings are employed. Our analysis shows that these couplings can be tuned to achieve a direction-sensitive group velocity enhancement beyond what is possible in the uncontrolled (Hermitian) counterpart, while ensuring that the wave packet evolution remains bounded and dynamically stable. We derive a dedicated relation between the control parameters, providing a systematic condition under which stability is guaranteed. We then study the topological properties of the non-Hermitian system at hand, and use an experimental-ready topoelecric metamaterial platform to demonstrate the non-Hermitian couplings realization, and the resulting wave dynamics. This framework paves the way to designing stable and fast wave transport in planar non-Hermitian media.