Schumer, A., Liu, Y. G. N., Leshin, J., Ding, L., Alahmadi, Y., Hassan, A. U., Nasari, H., Rotter, S., Christodoulides, D. N., LiKamWa, P., & Khajavikhan, M. (2022). Topological modes in a laser cavity through exceptional state transfer. Science, 375(6583), 884–888. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abl6571
Shaping the light emission characteristics of laser systems is of great importance in various areas of science and technology. In a typical lasing arrangement, the transverse spatial profile of a laser mode tends to remain self-similar throughout the entire cavity. Going beyond this paradigm, we demonstrate here how to shape a spatially evolving mode such that it faithfully settles into a pair of bi-orthogonal states at the two opposing facets of a laser cavity. This was achieved by purposely designing a structure that allows the lasing mode to encircle a non-Hermitian exceptional point while deliberately avoiding non-adiabatic jumps. The resulting state transfer reflects the unique topology of the associated Riemann surfaces associated with this singularity. Our approach provides a route to developing versatile mode-selective active devices and sheds light on the interesting topological features of exceptional points.
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Research Areas:
Design and Engineering of Quantum Systems: 20% Photonics: 80%
