Chiral modes and directional lasing at exceptional points
Abstract
Exceptional points (EPs) emerge when a system with loss or gain is tuned such that its eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenstates coalesce. By operating close to two EPs, we achieved a dynamic control of the rotation direction of light in a whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonator. This enabled us to tune the emission direction of a WGM microlaser from bidirectional, when the system is away from the EPs, to unidirectional emission at EPs and to reverse the emission direction by moving from one EP to the other. This feature provides WGM resonators new functionalities useful for lasing, sensing, optomechanics, and cavity quantum electrodynamics. Our findings will help to develop novel technologies for controlling the light flow on-chip and could affect scientific fields beyond optics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 06, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1603318113
Entities
People
- Bo Peng
- Huzeyfe Yilmaz
- Jan Wiersig
- Johannes Kramer
- Lan Yang
- Matthias Liertzer
- Stefan Rotter
- Weijian Chen
- Şahin Kaya Özdemir
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Austrian Science Fund
- German Research Foundation
- TU Wien
- University of Magdeburg
- Washington University in St. Louis