Optomechanically-induced transparency in parity-time-symmetric microresonators

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 9663
• Main Authors: Jing, H., Özdemir, Şahin K., Geng, Z., Zhang, Jing, Lü, Xin-You, Peng, Bo, Yang, Lan, Nori, Franco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 12.06.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/624; 639/766/400/482; Disease transmission; Humanities and Social Sciences; Loss ratio; multidisciplinary; Phase transitions; Photons; Science; Transparency
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep09663

Optomechanically-induced transparency (OMIT) and the associated slowing of light provide the basis for storing photons in nanoscale devices. Here we study OMIT in parity-time ( PT )-symmetric microresonators with a tunable gain-to-loss ratio. This system features a sideband-reversed, non-amplifying transparency , i.e., an inverted-OMIT. When the gain-to-loss ratio is varied, the system exhibits a transition from a PT -symmetric phase to a broken- PT -symmetric phase. This PT -phase transition results in the reversal of the pump and gain dependence of the transmission rates. Moreover, we show that by tuning the pump power at a fixed gain-to-loss ratio, or the gain-to-loss ratio at a fixed pump power, one can switch from slow to fast light and vice versa. These findings provide new tools for controlling light propagation using nanofabricated phononic devices.