Nonreciprocal interactions go nonlinear

25 July 2024

Our work on non-Hermitian dynamics of nonreciprocally and nonlinearly coupled optically levitated nanoparticles has just been published in Nature Physics. In this work, we observe PT symmetry breaking by reconstructing the eigenmodes with non-degenerate damping rates. For a larger coupling rate, the system exhibits a collective transition into a mechanical lasing state, where both particles become nonlinear oscillators. Larger arrays of particles will allow us to study nonreciprocal phase transitions or explore novel sensing strategies. Read more about it in our press release or the Nature News & Views article by our colleague Jayadev Vijayan.

Publication in Nature Physics: 

"Non-Hermitian dynamics and non-reciprocity of optically coupled nanoparticles"

Manuel Reisenbauer, Henning Rudolph, Livia Egyed, Klaus Hornberger, Anton V. Zasedatelev, Murad Abuzarli, Benjamin A. Stickler, Uroš Delić

Nat. Phys. 20, 1629 (2024), arXiv: 2310.02610