Invisibility and PT-symmetry

Abstract

For a general complex scattering potential defined on a real line, we show that the equations governing invisibility of the potential are invariant under the combined action of parity and time-reversal (PT) transformation. We determine the PT-symmetric an well as non-PT-symmetric invisible configurations of an easily realizable exactly solvable model that consists of a two-layer planar slab consisting of optically active material. Our analysis shows that although PT-symmetry is neither necessary nor sufficient for the invisibility of a scattering potential, it plays an important role in the characterization of the invisible configurations. A byproduct of our investigation is the discovery of certain configurations of our model that are effectively reflectionless in a spectral range as wide as several hundred nanometers.

11 pages, 3 figures, revised version, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev. A

References in corpus (4)

• Coherent Perfect Absorbers: Time-reversed Lasers
• PT-symmetry breaking and laser-absorber modes in optical scattering systems
• Geometric Phase for Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and Its Holonomy Interpretation
• A note on the PT-invariant periodic potential V(x)=4 cos^2 x + 4 i V_0 sin 2x

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Nonlinear localized modes in PT-symmetric Rosen-Morse potential well