arXiv · 1605.04010
Eigenvalue dynamics in the presence of non-uniform gain and loss
Abstract
Loss-induced transmission in waveguides, and reversed pump dependence in lasers, are two prominent examples of counter-intuitive effects in non-Hermitian systems with patterned gain and loss. By analyzing the eigenvalue dynamics of complex symmetric matrices when a system parameter is varied, we introduce a general set of theoretical conditions for these two effects. We show that these effects arise in any irreducible system where the gain or loss is added to a subset of the elements of the system, without the need for parity-time symmetry or for the system to be near an exceptional point. These results are confirmed using full-wave numerical simulations. The conditions presented here vastly expand the design space for observing these effects. We also show that a similarly broad class of systems exhibit a loss-induced narrowing of the density of states.
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Alexander Cerjan, Shanhui Fan. 2016-05-12. Eigenvalue dynamics in the presence of non-uniform gain and loss. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.94.033857
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