"Reflecting on an alternative quantum theory, and its analog in optics" Ray-Kuang Lee

Reflecting on an alternative quantum theory,
and its analog in optics

Prof. Ray-Kuang Lee
Institute of Photonics Technologies, National Tsing-Hua University

• Date: Thursday, 07 January
• Time: 11:00-12:00
• Venue: C015, Level C Lab1

Abstruct:
By no-signaling principle, we showed that parity-time (PT)-symmetric quantum theory as an extension of quantum theory to non-Hermitian Hamiltonians is either a trivial extension or likely false as a fundamental theory [1]. In addition to the implementation PT-symmetric optical systems by carefully and actively controlling the gain and loss, we show that a 2 × 2 PT-symmetric Hamiltonian has a unitarily equivalent representation without complex optical potentials in the resulting optical coupler. Through the Naimark dilation in operator algebra, passive PT -symmetric couplers can thus be implemented with a refractive index of real values and asymmetric coupling coefficients. This opens up the possibility to implement general PT -symmetric systems with state-of-the-art asymmetric slab waveguides, dissimilar optical fibers, or cavities with chiral mirrors [2].

[1] Yi-Chan Lee, Min-Hsiu Hsieh, Steven T. Flammia, and Ray-Kuang Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 130404 (2014).
[2] Yi-Chan Lee, Jibing Liu, You-Lin Chuang, Min-Hsiu Hsieh, and Ray-Kuang Lee, Phys. Rev. A 92, 053815 (2015).