Bound states and photon emission in non-Hermitian nanophotonics

Abstract

We establish a general framework for studying the bound states and the photon-emission dynamics of quantum emitters coupled to structured nanophotonic lattices with engineered dissipation (loss). In the single-excitation sector, the system can be described exactly by a non-Hermitian formalism. We have pointed out in the accompanying letter [Gong, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 223601 (2022)10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.223601] that a single emitter coupled to a one-dimensional non-Hermitian lattice may already exhibit anomalous behaviors without Hermitian counterparts. Here we provide further details on these observations. We also present several additional examples on cases with multiple quantum emitters or in higher dimensions. Our work unveils the tip of the iceberg of rich non-Hermitian phenomena in dissipative nanophotonic systems.