Programmable Non-Hermitian Synchronization of Light on a Silicon Photonic Processor
Abstract
Synchronization is a pervasive collective phenomenon underlying the firing of neurons, the beating of the heart, and the coherent emission of lasers. Across these systems, dissipation plays an organizing role, suppressing microscopic differences and steering coupled units toward a common macroscopic order. Here we harness engineered non-Hermitian dissipation to synchronize light directly in the optical domain. Implementing non Hermitian transition matrices on a silicon photonic processor, we drive arbitrary multimode optical fields toward a unique collective state with equal modal intensities and a globally locked phase, a process we call dissipation-induced phase synchronization. The synchronization rate and total optical power throughput are independently programmable, enabling control over the dissipative dynamics without compromising reconfigurability. These results recast dissipation as a functional resource and open a route to reconfigurable on-chip synchronization for classical and quantum photonic technologies.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{xu2026programmable,
title = {{Programmable Non-Hermitian Synchronization of Light on a Silicon Photonic Processor}},
author = {Ze-Sheng Xu and Nan Cheng and Mohammed S. Elmusrati and Rohan Yadgirkar and Andrea Cataldo and Rui Wen and Govind Krishna and Jun Gao and Ali W. Elshaari},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.14653},
eprint = {2605.14653},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14653},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Programmable Non-Hermitian Synchronization of Light on a Silicon Photonic Processor
AU - Ze-Sheng Xu
AU - Nan Cheng
AU - Mohammed S. Elmusrati
AU - Rohan Yadgirkar
AU - Andrea Cataldo
AU - Rui Wen
AU - Govind Krishna
AU - Jun Gao
AU - Ali W. Elshaari
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.14653
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14653
AB - Synchronization is a pervasive collective phenomenon underlying the firing of neurons, the beating of the heart, and the coherent emission of lasers. Across these systems, dissipation plays an organizing role, suppressing microscopic differences and steering coupled units toward a common macroscopic order. Here we harness engineered non-Hermitian dissipation to synchronize light directly in the optical domain. Implementing non Hermitian transition matrices on a silicon photonic processor, we drive arbitrary multimode optical fields toward a unique collective state with equal modal intensities and a globally locked phase, a process we call dissipation-induced phase synchronization. The synchronization rate and total optical power throughput are independently programmable, enabling control over the dissipative dynamics without compromising reconfigurability. These results recast dissipation as a functional resource and open a route to reconfigurable on-chip synchronization for classical and quantum photonic technologies.
ER -