Publication Date:
2014-10-18
Description:
Controlling and reversing the effects of loss are major challenges in optical systems. For lasers, losses need to be overcome by a sufficient amount of gain to reach the lasing threshold. In this work, we show how to turn losses into gain by steering the parameters of a system to the vicinity of an exceptional point (EP), which occurs when the eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenstates of a system coalesce. In our system of coupled microresonators, EPs are manifested as the loss-induced suppression and revival of lasing. Below a critical value, adding loss annihilates an existing Raman laser. Beyond this critical threshold, lasing recovers despite the increasing loss, in stark contrast to what would be expected from conventional laser theory. Our results exemplify the counterintuitive features of EPs and present an innovative method for reversing the effect of loss.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Peng, B -- Ozdemir, S K -- Rotter, S -- Yilmaz, H -- Liertzer, M -- Monifi, F -- Bender, C M -- Nori, F -- Yang, L -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Oct 17;346(6207):328-32. doi: 10.1126/science.1258004.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. ; Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. ozdemir@ese.wustl.edu yang@ese.wustl.edu. ; Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, A-1040 Vienna, Austria. ; Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. ; Center for Emergent Matter Science, RIKEN, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25324384" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
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Chemistry and Pharmacology
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Computer Science
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Medicine
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Natural Sciences in General
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Physics
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