Chiral transmission by an open evolution trajectory in a non-Hermitian system

Exceptional points(EPs),at which two or more eigenvalues and eigenstates of a resonant system coalesce,are associated with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with gain and/or loss elements.Dynamic encircling of EPs has received significant interest in recent years,as it has been shown to lead to highly nontrivial phenomena,such as chiral transmission in which the final state of the system depends on the encircling handedness.Previously,chiral transmission for a pair of eigenmodes has been realized by establishing a closed dynamical trajectory in parity-time-(PT-)or anti-PT-symmetric systems.Although chiral transmission of symmetry-broken modes,more accessible in practical photonic integrated circuits,has been realized by establishing a closed trajectory encircling EPs in anti-PTsymmetric systems,the demonstrated transmission efficiency is very low due to path-dependent losses.Here,we demonstrate chiral dynamics in a coupled waveguide system that does not require a closed trajectory.Specifically,we explore an open trajectory linking two infinite points having the same asymptotic eigenmodes(not modes in PT-and anti-PT-symmetric systems),demonstrating that this platform enables high-efficiency chiral transmission,with each eigenmode localized in a single waveguide.This concept is experimentally implemented in a coupled silicon waveguide system at telecommunication wavelengths.Our work provides a new evolution strategy for chiral dynamics with superior performance,laying the foundation for the development of practical chiral-transmission devices.

Ultra-high extinction ratio optical pulse generation with a thin film lithium niobate modulator for distributed acoustic sensing

We experimentally demonstrate ultra-high extinction ratio(ER)optical pulse modulation with an electro-optical modulator(EOM)on thin film lithium niobate(TFLN)and its application for fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing(DAS).An interface carrier effect leading to a relaxation-tail response of TFLN EOM is discovered,which can be well addressed by a small compensation component following the main driving signal.An ultrahigh ER>50 dB is achieved by canceling out the tailed response during pulse modulation using the EOM based on a cascaded Mach–Zehnder interferometer(MZI)structure.The modulated optical_(√)pulses are then utilized as a probe light for a DAS system,showing a sensitivity up to-62.9 dB·rad∕Hz~2(7 pε/Hz)for 2-km single-mode sensing fiber.Spatial crosstalk suppression of 24.9 dB along the fiber is also obtained when the ER is improved from 20 dB to 50 dB,clearly revealing its importance to the sensing performance.