title: Reciprocal and unidirectional scattering of parity-time symmetric structures.
abstract: Parity-time (PT) symmetry is of great interest. The reciprocal and unidirectional features are intriguing besides the (PT) symmetry phase transition. Recently, the reciprocal transmission, unidirectional reflectionless and invisibility are intensively studied. Here, we show the reciprocal reflection/transmission in (PT)-symmetric system is closely related to the type of (PT) symmetry, that is, the axial (reflection) (PT) symmetry leads to reciprocal reflection (transmission). The results are further elucidated by studying the scattering of rhombic ring form coupled resonators with enclosed synthetic magnetic flux. The nonreciprocal phase shift induced by the magnetic flux and gain/loss break the parity (P) and time-reversal (T) symmetry but keep the parity-time (PT) symmetry. The reciprocal reflection (transmission) and unidirectional transmission (reflection) are found in the axial (reflection) (PT)-symmetric ring centre. The explorations of symmetry and asymmetry from (PT) symmetry may shed light on novel one-way optical devices and application of (PT)-symmetric metamaterials.
authors.affiliation: Nankai University, School of Physics, Tianjin, 300071, P. R. China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Normal University, College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin, 300387, P. R. China.
authors.forename: X Z
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Nankai University, School of Physics, Tianjin, 300071, P. R. China.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Nankai University, School of Physics, Tianjin, 300071, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Song