Necklaces of $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric dimers

Abstract: We study light propagation through cyclic arrays, composed by copies of a given $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric dimer, using a group theoretical approach and finite element modeling. The theoretical mode-coupling analysis suggest the use of these devices as output port replicators where the dynamics are controlled by the impinging light field. This is confirmed to good agreement with finite element propagation in an experimentally feasible necklace of passive $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric dimers constructed from lossy and lossless waveguides.