Controlling electric, magnetic, and chiral dipolar emission with PT-symmetric potentials
We investigate the effect of parity-time (PT) symmetric optical potentials on the radiation of achiral and chiral dipole sources. Two properties unique to PT-symmetric potentials are observed. First, the dipole can be tuned to behave as a strong optical emitter or absorber based on the non-Hermiticity parameter and the dipole location. Second, exceptional points give rise to new system resonances that lead to orders-of-magnitude enhancements in the dipolar emitted or absorbed power. Utilizing these properties, we show that enantiomers of chiral molecules near PT-symmetric metamaterials exhibit a 4.5-fold difference in their emitted power and decay rate. Furthermore, the results of this work could enable new atom-cavity interactions for quantum optics, as well as all-optical enantioselective separation.