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    Observation of Non-Hermitian Bulk-Boundary Correspondence in Nonchiral Nonunitary Quantum Dynamics of Single Photons

    Miao Zhang*, Yue Zhang*, Shuai Li†, Yi-an Li, Yuanbang Wei, Rui Tian, Tianhao Wu, Hongyan Shi, Hong Gao et al.

    Fuli Li and Bo Liu‡

    • Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, Shaanxi Province Key Laboratory of Quantum Information and Quantum Optoelectronic Devices, School of Physics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

    • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
    • †Contact author: lishuai0999@xjtu.edu.cn
    • ‡Contact author: liubophy@xjtu.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 213601 – Published 17 November, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2zx3-rs57

    Abstract

    Non-Hermitian bulk-boundary correspondence, a central principle in non-Hermitian topological physics, is deeply rooted in symmetry. In particular, preserved chiral symmetry is one of the key ingredients, which plays a pivotal role in determining non-Hermitian topology. Nevertheless, chiral symmetry breaking in non-Hermitian systems substantially reshapes spectral and edge-state behavior. The corresponding fundamentally important bulk-boundary correspondence thus needs to be drastically reconstructed. However, it has so far eluded experimental efforts. Here, we theoretically predict and experimentally demonstrate the bulk-boundary correspondence of a one-dimensional (1D) non-Hermitian system with chiral symmetry breaking in discrete-time nonchiral nonunitary quantum walks of single photons. Through constructing a domain-wall configuration, we experimentally observe the photon localization at the interface of a domain-wall structure, clearly indicating the presence of the topological edge mode. The appearance of that matches excellently with the prediction of our newly introduced nonchiral non-Bloch topological invariants pair. Our Letter thus builds the non-Hermitian bulk-boundary correspondence for studying topological physics in non-chiral non-Hermitian systems.

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