English

PT-symmetric photonic quantum systems with gain and loss do not exist

Quantum Physics 2018-08-01 v1 Optics

Abstract

We discuss the impact of gain and loss on the evolution of photonic quantum states and find that PT-symmetric quantum optics in gain/loss systems is not possible. Within the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics we show that gain and loss are associated with non-compact and compact operator transformations, respectively. This implies a fundamentally different way in which quantum correlations between a quantum system and a reservoir are built up and destroyed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1805.10876,
  title  = {PT-symmetric photonic quantum systems with gain and loss do not exist},
  author = {Stefan Scheel and Alexander Szameit},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.10876},
  year   = {2018}
}