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  • Letter

Observation of scale-free localized states induced by non-Hermitian defects

Xinrong Xie1,2,3,4, Gan Liang5, Fei Ma1,2,3,4, Yulin Du1,2,3,4, Yiwei Peng1,2,3,4, Erping Li1,2,3,4, Hongsheng Chen1,2,3,4, Linhu Li5,*, Fei Gao1,2,3,4,† et al.

Haoran Xue6,‡

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
  • 2International Joint Innovation Center, The Electromagnetics Academy at Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Haining 314400, China
  • 3Key Lab. of Advanced Micro/Nano Electronic Devices & Smart Systems of Zhejiang, Jinhua Institute of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Jinhua 321099, China
  • 4Shaoxing Institute of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Shaoxing 312000, China
  • 5Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Metrology and Sensing, School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-Sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China
  • 6Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China

  • *lilh56@mail.sysu.edu.cn
  • †gaofeizju@zju.edu.cn
  • ‡haoranxue@cuhk.edu.hk
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Phys. Rev. B 109, L140102 – Published 15 April, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.109.L140102

Abstract

Wave localization is a fundamental phenomenon that appears universally in both natural materials and artificial structures and plays a crucial role in understanding the various physical properties of a system. Usually, a localized state has an exponential profile with a localization length independent of the system size. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a new class of localized states called scale-free localized states, which has an unfixed localization length scaling linearly with the system size. Using circuit lattices, we observe that a non-Hermitian defect added to a Hermitian lattice induces an extensive number of states with scale-free localization. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, in a lattice with a parity-time-symmetric non-Hermitian defect, the scale-free localization emerges because of spontaneous parity-time symmetry breaking. Our results uncover a type of localized states and extend the study of defect physics to the non-Hermitian regime.

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Phys. Rev. B 109, L140102– Published 15 April, 2024
  • Received 20 November 2023
  • Revised 22 March 2024
  • Accepted 26 March 2024
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