Anti-parity–time symmetry with flying atoms
Aug 15, 20167 pages
Published in:
- Nature Phys. 12 (2016) 12, 1139-1145
- Published: Aug 15, 2016
DOI:
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Abstract: (Springer)
The recently developed notion of parity–time (PT) symmetry in optical systems has spawned intriguing prospects. So far, most experimental implementations have been reported in solid-state systems. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of optical anti-PT symmetry—the counterpart of conventional PT symmetry—in a warm atomic-vapour cell. Rapid coherence transport via flying atoms leads to a dissipative coupling between two long-lived atomic spin waves, allowing for the observation of the essential features of anti-PT symmetry with unprecedented precision on the phase-transition threshold, as well as refractionless light propagation. Moreover, we show that a linear or nonlinear interaction between the two spatially separated beams can be achieved. Our results advance non-Hermitian physics by bridging to the field of atomic, molecular and optical physics, where new phenomena and applications in quantum and nonlinear optics aided by (anti-)PT symmetry could be anticipated. Parity–time symmetry in optics is studied in a warm atomic vapour, where its counterpart, anti-parity–time symmetry, as well as refractionless propagation, can also be observed.- Nonlinear optics
- Quantum optics
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