Observation of a Chiral State in a Microwave Cavity

C. Dembowski, B. Dietz, H.-D. Gräf, H. L. Harney, A. Heine, W. D. Heiss, and A. Richter
Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 034101 – Published 23 January 2003

Abstract

A microwave experiment has been realized to measure the phase difference of the oscillating electric field at two points inside the cavity. The technique has been applied to a dissipative resonator which exhibits a singularity—called exceptional point—in its eigenvalue and eigenvector spectrum. At the singularity, two modes coalesce with a phase difference of π/2. We conclude that the state excited at the singularity has a definitive chirality.

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  • Received 19 July 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.034101

©2003 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

C. Dembowski1, B. Dietz1, H.-D. Gräf1, H. L. Harney2, A. Heine1, W. D. Heiss3, and A. Richter1,*

  • 1Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, D-64289 Darmstadt, Germany
  • 2Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Stellenbosch, 7602 Matieland, South Africa

  • *Electronic address: richter@ikp.tu-darmstadt.de

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Vol. 90, Iss. 3 — 24 January 2003

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