Research highlights
In the last few years, the great utility of exceptional points in sensing linear perturbations has been recognized. However, physical systems are inherently anharmonic and macroscopic physics is most accurately described by nonlinear models. Considering the multitude of semiclassical and quantum effects ensuing from nonlinear interactions, the sensing of anharmonicities is a prerequisite to the primed control of these effects. Here, we propose an expedient sensing scheme relevant to dissipatively coupled anti parity-time (anti-PT) symmetric systems and customized for the fine-grained estimation of anharmonic perturbations. The sensitivity to anharmonicities is derived from the coherence between two modes induced by a common vacuum. Owing to this coherence, the linear response acquires a pole on the real axis. We demonstrate how this singularity can be exploited for the enhanced sensing of very weak anhamonicities at low pumping rates. Our results are applicable to a wide class of systems, and we specifically illustrate the remarkable sensing capabilities in the context of a weakly anharmonic yttrium iron garnet sphere interacting with a cavity via a tapered fiber waveguide. A small change in the anharmonicity leads to a substantial change in the induced spin current.
The prospect of a system possessing two or more stable states for a given excitation condition is of topical
interest with applications in information processing networks. In this work, we establish the remote transfer of
bistability from a nonlinear resource in a dissipatively coupled two-mode system. As a clear advantage over
coherently coupled settings, the dissipative nature of interaction is found to support a lower pumping threshold
for bistable signals. For comparable parameters, the bistability threshold for dissipatively coupled systems is
lower by a factor of about 5. The resulting hysteresis can be studied spectroscopically by applying a probe field
through the waveguide and examining the polariton character of the transmitted field. Our model is generic,
apropos of an extensive set of quantum systems, and we demonstrate our results in the context of magnonics
where experimental interest has flourished of late. As a consequence of dissipative coupling and the nonlinearity,
a long-lived mode emerges, which is responsible for heightened transmission levels and pronounced sensitivity
in signal propagation through the fiber.