Tuning the Effective PT Phase of Plasmonic Eigenmodes

We experimentally observe an effective PT-phase transition through the exceptional point in a hybrid plasmonic-dielectric waveguide system. Transmission experiments reveal fundamental changes in the underlying eigenmode interactions as the environmental refractive index is tuned, which can be unambiguously attributed to a crossing through the plasmonic exceptional point. These results extend the design opportunities for tunable non-Hermitian physics to plasmonic systems.