Beam dynamics in PT symmetric optical lattices.
Phys Rev Lett
; 100(10): 103904, 2008 Mar 14.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18352189
ABSTRACT
The possibility of parity-time (PT) symmetric periodic potentials is investigated within the context of optics. Beam dynamics in this new type of optical structures is examined in detail for both one- and two-dimensional lattice geometries. It is shown that PT periodic structures can exhibit unique characteristics stemming from the nonorthogonality of the associated Floquet-Bloch modes. Some of these features include double refraction, power oscillations, and eigenfunction unfolding as well as nonreciprocal diffraction patterns.