Chiral exceptional points in metasurfaces

An exceptional point (EP) is a degeneracy occurring in a non-energy-conserving system, in which two eigenvectors of a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian coalesce. We explore how EPs can be realized in a metamaterial surface, or metasurface, consisting of a pair of lossy coupled linear antennas in each unit cell. EPs appear in the eigenvectors of the transmission matrix by tuning the frequency and the coupling and loss rates of the metasurface. Each EP is associated with the appearance of a circularly polarized transmission eigenstate; hence, within the parameter space of the system, the EPs lie along pairs of curves with distinct chirality. Our results are obtained using finite-difference time-domain simulations, as well as a fitted coupled-mode theory. The coupled-mode theory agrees well with the numerical results and is capable of accurately predicting the EP $f$ curves.