Non-Hermitian systems with nonreciprocal hopping may display the non-Hermitian skin effect, where states under open boundary conditions localize exponentially at one edge of the system. This localization has been linked to spectral winding and topological gain, forming a bulk-boundary correspondence akin to the one relating edge modes to bulk topological invariants in topological insulators and superconductors. In this work, we establish a bulk-boundary correspondence for disordered Hatano-Nelson models. We relate the localization of states to spectral winding using the Lyapunov exponent and the Thouless formula. We identify two kinds of phase transitions and relate them to transport properties. Our framework is relevant to a broad class of 1D non-Hermitian models, opening alternative directions for disorder-resilient transport and quantum-enhanced sensing in photonic, optomechanical, and superconducting platforms.

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• Non-reciprocal propagation
• Open quantum systems
• Photonics
• Skin effect
• Topological phase transition
• Disordered systems
• Non-Hermitian systems
• Topological insulators