Visualizing Topology of Real-Energy Gapless Phase Arising from Exceptional Point

Abstract: The discovery of novel topological phase advances our knowledge of nature and stimulates the development of applications. In non-Hermitian topological systems, the topology of band touching exceptional points is very important. Here we propose a real-energy topological gapless phase arising from exceptional points in one dimension, which has identical topological invariants as the topological gapless phase arising from degeneracy points. We develop a graphic approach to characterize the topological phases, where the eigenstates of energy bands are mapped to the graphs on a torus. The topologies of different phases are visualized and distinguishable; and the topological gapless edge state with amplification appropriate for topological lasing exists in the nontrivial phase. These results are elucidated through a non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger ladder. Our findings open new way for identifying topology phase of matter from visualizing the eigenstates.