Non-Hermitian spectral changes in the scattering of partially coherent radiation by periodic structures

The physical aspects of partially coherent radiation interacting with deterministic non-Hermitian periodic materials remain largely unexplored in the statistical optics literature. Here, we consider the scattering of partially coherent radiation by a deterministic periodic medium, symmetric under the simultaneous transformations of parity inversion and time reversal, i.e., a parity-time-symmetric periodic medium. Taking into account light fluctuations, one is able to describe the spectrum changes on propagation and the influence of the coherence-driven angular divergence effect. The far-field spectral density profile is found to depend crudally on the loss/gain properties of the material, giving rise to unexpected and contrasting spectral diffraction profiles when compared to the Hermitian ones. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America