Wave emission and absorption at spectral singularities

Abstract: We studied the critical dynamics of spectral singularities. The system investigated is a coupled resonator array with a side-coupled loss (gain) resonator. For a gain resonator, the system acts as a wave emitter at spectral singularities. The reflection probability increased linearly over time. The rate of increase is proportional to the width of the incident wave packet, which served as the spectral singularity observer in the experiment. For a lossy resonator, the system acts as a wave absorber. The emission and absorption states at spectral singularities coalesce in a finite parity-time (PT ) symmetric system that combined by the gain and loss structures cut from corrresponding scattering systems at spectral singularities; in this case, the PT -symmetric system is at an exceptional point with a 2 * 2 Jordan block. The dynamics of the PT -symmetric system exhibit the characteristic of exceptional points and spectral singularities.