PT-symmetry-induced evolution of sharp asymmetric line shapes and high-sensitivity refractive index sensors in a three-cavity array

It is important to control and tune the Fano-resonance spectra to achieve a large slope with, in addition, a relatively high extinction ratio for low-power optical switching and high-sensitivity sensing. Here, we explore the evolution of sharp asymmetric Fano-like line shapes in a three-cavity array with local parity-time (PT) symmetry. In this three-cavity configuration, a single cavity is coupled to a PT-symmetric combination of two cavities via a common waveguide. The influences of local PT symmetry on the asymmetric Fano-like line shapes are investigated by monitoring the output transmission spectra at various system parameters. It is found that both the slope and the extinction ratio within the sharp asymmetric line shapes can be significantly enhanced by introducing the PT-symmetric unit, compared with the configuration of two indirectly coupled cavities. Subsequently we discuss the application of such a PT-assisted configuration as a family of high-sensitivity refractive index sensors by numerical analysis. For practical parameters based on microring resonators, the best sensitivity of refractive index sensors is more than five orders of magnitude larger than two indirectly coupled lossy cavities. The proposed scheme can be implemented in current state-of-the-art experiments. This investigation can help us to understand the interplay between the Fano resonance and PT symmetry.