Optical Realization of Relativistic Non-Hermitian Quantum Mechanics

Stefano Longhi
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 013903 – Published 30 June 2010

Abstract

Light propagation in distributed-feedback optical structures with gain or loss regions is shown to provide an accessible laboratory tool to visualize in optics the spectral properties of the one-dimensional Dirac equation with non-Hermitian interactions. Spectral singularities and PT symmetry breaking of the Dirac Hamiltonian are shown to correspond to simple observable physical quantities and are related to well-known physical phenomena such as resonance narrowing and laser oscillation.

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  • Received 9 February 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.013903

©2010 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Stefano Longhi

  • Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy

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Vol. 105, Iss. 1 — 2 July 2010

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