Collaborative Research: Investigation of Rotation-Time and Inversion-Time Symmetries in Photonic Materials

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Non-Technical Description: The objective of this collaborative research project is to strategically utilize optical losses to demonstrate novel photonic materials with unconventional optical properties. The study may lay a solid foundation for a new generation of sophisticated photonic devices with unique and highly tunable optical properties, as well as provide a better understanding of their connection to quantum mechanics, mathematical physics, and materials science. From the practical point-of-view, the demonstrated novel optical functionalities in the state-of-the-art photonics technology can significantly impact the fast-growing areas of optical communications and computing, including lasers, amplifiers, modulators and detectors. The research is well integrated with the educational activities at both institutions, such as cutting-edge science and technology research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students, and educational outreach activities to promote the interests and participations of K-12 students and underrepresented groups.Technical Description: The primary focus of this research project is to investigate a quantum-mechanism inspired approach to realize novel non-Hermitian photonic materials by employing a variety of symmetry paradigms, including rotation-time, inversion-time, and parity-time symmetries as well as their combinations. Specifically, this collaborative research project is to explore rotation-time and inversion-time symmetries in higher dimensional photonic materials, which completes the anti-linear symmetry families that involve time reversal and a point group (e.g., rotation and inversion). The project utilizes the principal investigators' complementary expertise in optics theory and advanced nanofabrication to design and fabricate novel chip-scale integrated photonic materials of different symmetries. The corresponding optical properties in reflection, transmission and scattering are investigated to characterize different quantum phases and the associated phase transition. A unified group theory is studied to describe the entire non-Hermitian symmetry families. The novel photonic materials in this study are expected to offer unique optical functionalities in the control of light transport and optical resonant modes, thus enabling a new generation of photonic devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.