Towards nanoscale multiplexing with parity-time symmetric plasmonic coaxial waveguides

Abstract

We theoretically investigate a nanoscale mode-division multiplexing scheme based on parity-time (PT) symmetric coaxial plasmonic waveguides. Coaxial waveguides support paired degenerate modes corresponding to distinct orbital angular momentum states. PT symmetric inclusions of gain and loss break the degeneracy of the paired modes and create new hybrid modes without orbital angular momentum. This process can be made thresholdless by matching the mode order with the number of gain and loss sections within the coaxial ring. Using both a Hamiltonian formulation and degenerate perturbation theory, we show how the wavevectors and fields evolve with increased loss/gain and derive sufficient conditions for thresholdless transitions. As a multiplexing filter, this PT symmetric coaxial waveguide could help double density rates in on-chip nanophotonic networks.

11 pages, 11 figures

References in corpus (6)

• $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetry breaking in a necklace of coupled optical waveguides
• $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetric microring laser-absorber
• Nonlinear PT-symmetric plaquettes
• PT-symmetry breaking and universal chirality in a PT-symmetric ring
• Resonant mode conversion in the waveguides with an unbroken and broken PT-symmetry
• Mode pairs in $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetric multimode waveguides

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Parity-Time Symmetry in Non-Hermitian Complex Optical Media
• Active Polarization Control with a Parity-Time Symmetric Plasmonic Resonator