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Optical physics

Broken symmetry makes light work

The fundamental symmetries of parity and time are now being exploited to enable the spatial guiding and selection of propagating radiation, and could ultimately underpin a new generation of sophisticated, integrated photonic devices.

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Figure 1: Light propagation in a PT material.

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Kottos, T. Broken symmetry makes light work. Nature Phys 6, 166–167 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1612

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