Spectral and transport properties of the PT-symmetric dimer model

We study the scattering properties of the PT-symmetric tight-binding model with balanced gain and loss parameters. Our main interest is to establish the link between the spectral properties of scattering states and transport characteristics for the case of non-equal couplings between gain/loss sites. The analytical approach we have used allows one to reveal a quite unexpected role of this set-up in comparison with that of equal couplings. In particular, we demonstrate that for the exceptional points characterized by equal eigenvalues of the transfer matrix, the transmission coefficient can be different from one in contrast with the model with equal couplings. The analytical results are complemented by the numerical data. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved