title: Optical realization of relativistic non-Hermitian quantum mechanics.
abstract: Light propagation in distributed-feedback optical structures with gain or loss regions is shown to provide an accessible laboratory tool to visualize in optics the spectral properties of the one-dimensional Dirac equation with non-Hermitian interactions. Spectral singularities and PT symmetry breaking of the Dirac Hamiltonian are shown to correspond to simple observable physical quantities and are related to well-known physical phenomena such as resonance narrowing and laser oscillation.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Longhi