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In its optical manifestation, supersymmetry can potentially establish close relationships between seemingly different dielectric structures. Here, the authors use the perfect global phase matching afforded by supersymmetry for mode conversion and mode division multiplexing in highly multimoded systems.

Topological effects, first observed in condensed matter physics, are now also studied in optical systems, extending the scope to active topological devices. Here, Zhao et al. combine topological physics with non-Hermitian photonics, demonstrating a topological microlaser on a silicon platform.

A photonic system that shows behaviour similar to that of a violation of parity–time symmetry provides a convenient test bed to explore this and related phenomena. It could also lead to a new class of optical materials with exotic properties that exploit non-reciprocal light flow.

Exceptional points can be realized via engineering gain and loss or unidirectional coupling, as demonstrated in optical platforms. Here, the authors report an EP in unidirectionally coupled LC circuits and demonstrate a square-root scaling of frequency splitting with perturbation.

The interplay between gain saturation, nonlinearity, and band topology is investigated in SSH laser arrays. The authors show that, in certain regimes, the lasing zero mode no longer inherits the spatial profile of the localized defect state dictated by the underlying topological lattice. Instead, it becomes delocalized, with its intensity distributed nearly uniformly across the entire array.

When multiple oscillators are tuned, degeneracies occur on a knot-shaped region in the space of tuning parameters. This knot influences how such systems can be tuned. Here, the authors reconcile two common means for visualizing this influence.

The authors report on the experimental observation and characterization of exceptional points above the lasing threshold in photonic crystal nanocavities.

In this work the authors demonstrate that the spectral sensitivity near exceptional points can be harnessed in electronic circuits to implement physically unclonable functions for security and communication applications.

In vivo sensors can be interrogated using a wireless system locked to an exceptional point, providing a sensitivity beyond the capabilities of standard wireless readout schemes.

The origin of the Rayleigh–Jeans distribution associated with light thermalization in optical thermodynamic multimode nonlinear settings is discussed. Here the authors show that due to entropy maximization, this process is universal and is independent of the intricacies of the nonlinearities involved.

A general description of observable effects induced by non-Hermitian singularities is complex. Here, Zhong et al. develop such a formalism, showing that loops around the same exceptional point starting from the same point in the same direction do not need to have the same outcome.

Wireless sensors employing a generalized parity–time-symmetry telemetric sensing technique exhibit finer spectral resolution and more sensitive frequency response compared to conventional passive sensors.

Higher-order topological states that are robust against certain classes of disorder and pinned to lattice corners are now observed in photonics platforms.

The response of a ternary, parity–time-symmetric system that exhibits a third-order exceptional point increases as a function of the cube-root of induced perturbations.

In-phase synchronization of laser arrays remains one of the most important open problems in laser science. This work utilizes the relationship between chiral symmetric tight-binding models and supersymmetry to engineer a near-uniform laser array with a superior far-field intensity scaling, extending the frontiers of laser technology.

This Review Article outlines the exploration of the interplay between parity–time symmetry and non-Hermitian physics in optics, plasmonics and optomechanics.

The quasi PT-symmetry design enables the creation of electrically pumped large-area edge-emitting lasers with high power single-mode emissions by selectively inducing loss on high-order modes.

General concepts and recent developments of parity–time symmetry in classical photonics are reviewed.

The concept of non-Hermitian parity-time reversal symmetry in optics has given rise to a vast amount of research aimed at exploring some of the exotic features displayed by photonics systems. The authors present a brief account of the state-of-the-art on non-Hermitian photonics and provide their perspective on the topic.