Nonlinear waves in PT-symmetric systems

Recent progress on nonlinear properties of parity-time (PT)-symmetric systems is comprehensively reviewed in this article. PT symmetry started out in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics, where complex potentials obeying PT symmetry could exhibit all-real spectra. This concept later spread out to optics, Bose-Einstein condensates, electronic circuits, and many other physical fields, where a judicious balancing of gain and loss constitutes a PT-symmetric system. The natural inclusion of nonlinearity into these PT systems then gave rise to a wide array of new phenomena which have no counterparts in traditional dissipative systems. Examples include the existence of continuous families of nonlinear modes and integrals of motion, stabilization of nonlinear modes above PT-symmetry phase transition, symmetry breaking of nonlinear modes, distinctive soliton dynamics, and many others. In this article, nonlinear PT-symmetric systems arising from various physical disciplines are presented, nonlinear properties of these systems are thoroughly elucidated, and relevant experimental results are described. In addition, emerging applications of PT symmetry are pointed out.