Exceptional points preceding and enabling spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Lewis Hill1, Julius T Gohsrich1,2, Alekhya Ghosh1,2

  • 1Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.

Communications Physics
|February 16, 2026
PubMed
Summary

Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) and exceptional points (EPs) in nonlinear optics do not always coincide. These phenomena are dislocated in parameter space but remain interdependent, challenging common assumptions.

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