High-order exceptional points and enhanced sensing in subwavelength resonator arrays

Abstract

Systems exhibiting degeneracies known as exceptional points have remarkable properties with powerful applications, particularly in sensor design. These degeneracies are formed when eigenstates coincide, and the remarkable effects are exaggerated by increasing the order of the exceptional point (that is, the number of coinciding eigenstates). In this work, we use asymptotic techniques to study PT-symmetric arrays of many subwavelength resonators and search for high-order exceptional points. This analysis reveals the range of different configurations that can give rise to high-order exceptional points and provides efficient techniques to compute them. We also show how systems exhibiting high-order exceptional points can be used for sensitivity enhancement.