Arbitrary eigenmode reshaping induced by distributed non-reciprocity in non-Hermitian systems
1 College of Future Information Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
3 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Metasurfaces for Light Manipulation, Shanghai 200433, China
4 State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
5 Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • Volume
  • Citation
    Rong Z, Chen Y, Bai Y, Cui T, Zhou L, et al. Arbitrary eigenmode reshaping induced by distributed non-reciprocity in non-Hermitian systems. Opt. Photonics Res. 2026(1):0004, https://doi.org/10.55092/opr20260004. 
  • DOI
    10.55092/opr20260004
  • Copyright
    Copyright2026 by the authors. Published by ELSP.
Abstract

Periodic non-reciprocal systems have attracted significant attention for their striking non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE) and the development of a comprehensive non-Bloch theory. In contrast, aperiodic non-reciprocal systems have been rarely explored, owing to the intrinsic complexity induced by spatial non-uniformity and absence of predictable physical behavior. Here, we establish a theoretical framework for one-dimensional nearest-neighbor lattices under open boundary conditions, and reveal that the spatially varying non-reciprocal coupling can be interpreted geometrically as a designable imaginary gauge field, providing a tunable metric on the Hilbert space that serves as a powerful and deterministic knob to control the wave-functions of eigenmodes. By tailoring the non-reciprocity distribution in this specific system, we combine theory, proof-of-concept electric-circuit experiments, and high-frequency optical-lattice simulations with micro-ring resonators to demonstrate that the eigenmodes of a non-Hermitian system can be reshaped into arbitrary spatial profiles without altering their spectral distribution, a mode-field engineering strategy termed non-Hermitian reshaping engineering (NHRE). In the special case of a uniform non-reciprocity distribution, NHRE recovers the characteristic exponential mode localization in the conventional NHSE. While the full diagonalization framework underlying the inverse mapping is limited to one dimension, some of its design principles can be partially extended to arbitrary higher-dimensional systems, offering an efficient route to mode modulation and deepening our understanding of non-Hermitian physics.

Keywords

non-Hermitian reshaping engineering; distributed non-reciprocity; spectrum-preserving mode engineering; topological electrical circuits; coupled resonant optical waveguides

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