TY - JOUR
T1 - General theory of spontaneous emission near exceptional points
AU - Pick, Adi
AU - Zhen, Bo
AU - Miller, Owen D.
AU - Hsu, Chia W.
AU - Hernandez, Felipe
AU - Rodriguez, Alejandro W.
AU - Soljacic, Marin
AU - Johnson, Steven G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Optical Society of America.
PY - 2017/5/29
Y1 - 2017/5/29
N2 - We present a general theory of spontaneous emission at exceptional points (EPs)- exotic degeneracies in non-Hermitian systems. Our theory extends beyond spontaneous emission to any light-matter interaction described by the local density of states (e.g., absorption, thermal emission, and nonlinear frequency conversion). Whereas traditional spontaneous-emission theories imply infinite enhancement factors at EPs, we derive finite bounds on the enhancement, proving maximum enhancement of 4 in passive systems with second-order EPs and significantly larger enhancements (exceeding 400×) in gain-aided and higher-order EP systems. In contrast to non-degenerate resonances, which are typically associated with Lorentzian emission curves in systems with low losses, EPs are associated with non-Lorentzian lineshapes, leading to enhancements that scale nonlinearly with the resonance quality factor. Our theory can be applied to dispersive media, with proper normalization of the resonant modes.
AB - We present a general theory of spontaneous emission at exceptional points (EPs)- exotic degeneracies in non-Hermitian systems. Our theory extends beyond spontaneous emission to any light-matter interaction described by the local density of states (e.g., absorption, thermal emission, and nonlinear frequency conversion). Whereas traditional spontaneous-emission theories imply infinite enhancement factors at EPs, we derive finite bounds on the enhancement, proving maximum enhancement of 4 in passive systems with second-order EPs and significantly larger enhancements (exceeding 400×) in gain-aided and higher-order EP systems. In contrast to non-degenerate resonances, which are typically associated with Lorentzian emission curves in systems with low losses, EPs are associated with non-Lorentzian lineshapes, leading to enhancements that scale nonlinearly with the resonance quality factor. Our theory can be applied to dispersive media, with proper normalization of the resonant modes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85020051603&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1364/OE.25.012325
DO - 10.1364/OE.25.012325
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C2 - 28786590
AN - SCOPUS:85020051603
SN - 1094-4087
VL - 25
SP - 12325
EP - 12348
JO - Optics Express
JF - Optics Express
IS - 11
ER -