Non-Hermitian Photonics for Enhanced Light Control and Sensing

Dear Colleagues,

Symmetry has long been a cornerstone of physics, essential for understanding and describing the physical world. In 1998, Bender and Boettcher demonstrated that non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, when commuted with the PT symmetry operator, can exhibit real eigenvalues. This discovery highlighted the importance of PT symmetry, sparking a surge in research within this field. Non-Hermitian systems introduce gain and loss, making them more representative of real-world physical systems compared to traditional closed systems. Consequently, non-Hermitian physics has emerged as a new and rapidly growing research area.

Exceptional points (EPs), where eigenstates coalesce in non-Hermitian systems, present unique phenomena, such as super-sensitive measurements and topologically protected energy transport. EPs have been realized in various platforms, including waveguides, circuits, and microcavities, with whispering-gallery-mode optical microcavities being ideal for exploring EP properties.

This Special Issue invites research papers on non-Hermitian photonics and its applications in enhanced light control and sensing. We aim to present the latest theoretical and experimental advances in this field, particularly focusing on exceptional points and their applications in photonics, quantum technologies, and optical sensing. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Non-Hermitian photonics and exceptional points;
• Applications of EPs in optical sensors and sensor enhancement;
• Chiral mode conversion and its applications in non-Hermitian systems;
• Cavity optomechanics and EP-based light manipulation;
• Quantum photonics;
• Topological light transport in non-Hermitian systems;
• Light control and manipulation via non-Hermitian systems;
• Waveguide systems and circuit-based non-Hermitian devices;
• Experimental realization and applications of EPs in photonic devices;
• Theoretical models of non-Hermitian systems in photonics.

Dr. Dan Long
Dr. Ze-Guo Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• non-Hermitian photonics
• exceptional point sensing
• chiral mode conversion
• quantum photonics
• light control
• photonic sensors
• non-Hermitian systems