Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Physics (PhD)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Physics
Advisor 1
Ramy El-Ganainy
Advisor 2
Jacek Borysow
Committee Member 1
Durdu Guney
Committee Member 2
Miguel Levy
Committee Member 3
Jae Yong Suh
Abstract
The notion of non-Hermitian engineering in optics and photonics has attracted considerable attention in the past decade. From laser devices and sensing applications to light trapping and guiding, non-Hermitian engineering provides additional degrees of freedom that allows for more control over light-matter interaction. It is thus of great importance to develop a deep insight into the linear response of non-Hermitian optical systems. We begin by studying the linear response of non-Hermitian Hamiltonian systems under general conditions and derive an expression for its Green's operator in terms of its eigenvectors and its canonical Jordan vectors. Next, we investigate the quantum noise in optical amplifiers operating at non-Hermitian singularities known as exceptional points. We then examine the response of non-Hermitian systems under time-varying, non-harmonic input signals. Finally, we reveal that one of the most important tools used to analyze non-Hermitian optical systems, namely temporal coupled-mode theory, can break down under peculiar input conditions. This work provides a deeper understanding and a fresh look on the behavior and response of driven non-Hermitian photonic systems and may play an important role in designing and building next-generation non-Hermitian optical devices.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Simonson, Lucas R., "Linear response of driven non-Hermitian photonic systems", Open Access Dissertation, Michigan Technological University, 2025.