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Classical and wave properties of microlasers with the shape of a truncated pseudosphere are investigated through experiments and numerical simulations. These pseudosphere microlasers are surface-like organic microlasers with constant negative curvature, which were fabricated with high optical quality by direct laser writing. It is shown that they behave, in many ways, similar to two-dimensional flat disks, regardless of their different Gaussian curvature. Indeed, it is evidenced that, due to rotational symmetry, the pseudosphere is an integrable system with marginally stable dynamics., Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures

We report on the experimental realization of a flat, superconducting microwave resonator, a microwave billiard, with partially violated time-reversal (T ) invariance, induced by inserting a ferrite into the cavity and magnetizing it with an external magnetic field perpendicular to the resonator plane. In order to prevent its expulsion caused by the Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect we used a cavity of which the top and bottom plate were made from niobium, a superconductor of type II, and cooled it down to liquid-helium temperature T LHe ' 4 K. The Cavity had the shape of a chaotic Afrivca billiard. Superconductivity rendered possible the accurate determination of complete sequences of the resonance frequencies and of the widths and strengths of the resonances, an indispensable prerequisite for the unambiguous detection of T invariance violation, especially when it is only partially violated. This allows for the first time the precise specification of the size of T invariance violation from the fluctuation properties of the resonance frequencies and from the strength distribution, which actually depends sensitively on it and thus provides a most suitable measure. For this purpose we derived an analytical expression for the latter which is valid for isolated resonances in the range from no T invariance violation to complete violation.

Microlasers are of ample interest for advancing quantum chaos studies at the intersection of wave dynamics and geometric optics in resonators. However, the mode structures of three-dimensional microlasers without rotational symmetry remain largely unexplored due to fabrication limitations. Previous studies of such cavities revealed lasing modes localized on periodic orbits exclusively confined to a single plane. In this work, we report on the characterization of pyramidal, polymer-based microlasers and demonstrate that the lasing modes are localized on a genuine three-dimensional periodic orbit. The consequences on the laser features are further discussed, in particular stability and polarization issues.

A major objective in photonics is to tailor the emission properties of microcavities which is usually achieved with specific cavity shapes. Yet, the dynamical change of the emission properties during operation would often be advantageous. The implementation of such a method is still a challenging issue. We present an effective procedure for the dynamical control of the emission lobes which relies on the selection of a specific coherent superposition of degenerate modes belonging to different symmetry classes. It is generally applicable to systems exhibiting pairs of degenerate modes. We explored it experimentally and analytically with organic square microlasers, which emit narrow lobes parallel to their sidewalls. By means of the pump polarization, emission lobes are switched on and off selectively with an extinction ratio better 1/50.

This second paper on the Fabry-Perot cavity presents a semi-classical approach, which means that we consider the transition from wave optics to geometrical optics. The basic concepts are the periodic orbits and their stability. For the plano-concave Fabry-Perot cavity in the paraxial approximation, the derivation of the trace formula demonstrates that the spectrum is based only on the axial periodic orbit and its repetitions. Experiments with micro-lasers illustrate the relation to periodic orbits. The methods presented in this paper are not limited to laser cavities and can be applied to a large range of wave systems., Comment: Submitted to European Journal of Physics for the focus issue on advanced optics

High resolution experiments have recently lead to a complete identification (energy, spin, and parity) of 151 nuclear levels up to an excitation Energy of Ex= 6.20 MeV in 208Pb. We present a thorough study of the fluctuation properties in the energy spectra of the unprecedented set of nuclear bound states. In a first approach we grouped states with the same spin and parity into 14 subspectra, analyzed standard statistical measures for short- and long-range correlations and then computed their ensemble average. Their comparison with a random matrix ensemble which interpolates between Poisson statistics expected for regular systems and the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble (GOE) predicted for chaotic systems shows that the data are well described by the GOE. In a second approach, following an idea of Rosenzweig and Porter we considered the complete spectrum composed of the independent subspectra. We analyzed their fluctuation properties using the method of Bayesian inference involving a quantitative measure, called the chaoticity parameter f, which also interpolates between Poisson (f=0) and GOE statistics (f=1). It turns out to be f~0.9. This is so far the closest agreement with GOE observed in spectra of bound states in a nucleus. The same analysis has also been performed with spectra computed on the basis of shell model calculations with different interactions (SDI, KB, M3Y). While the simple SDI exhibits features typical for nuclear many-body systems with regular dynamics, the other, more realistic interactions yield chaoticity parameters f close to the experimental values.

We study distributions of the ratios of level spacings of a rectangular and an Africa-shaped superconducting microwave resonator containing circular scatterers on a triangular grid, so-called Dirac billiards (DBs). The high-precision measurements allowed the determination of all 1651 and 1823 eigenfrequencies in the first two bands, respectively. The resonance densities are similar to that of graphene. They exhibit two sharp peaks at the van Hove singularities, that separate the band structure into regions with a linear and a quadratic dispersion relation, respectively. In their vicinity we observe rapid changes, e.g., in the wavefunction structure. Accordingly, the question arose, whether there the spectral properties are still determined by the shapes of the DBs. The commonly used statistical measures, however, are no longer applicable whereas, as demonstrated in this Letter, the ratio distributions provide most suitable ones.

The fluctuations exhibited by the cross-sections generated in a compound-nucleus reaction or, more generally, in a quantum-chaotic scattering process, when varying the excitation energy or another external parameter, are characterized by the width Gamma_corr of the cross-section correlation function. In 1963 Brink and Stephen [Phys. Lett. 5, 77 (1963)] proposed a method for its determination by simply counting the number of maxima featured by the cross sections as function of the parameter under consideration. They, actually, stated that the product of the average number of maxima per unit energy range and Gamma_corr is constant in the Ercison region of strongly overlapping resonances. We use the analogy between the scattering formalism for compound-nucleus reactions and for microwave resonators to test this method experimentally with unprecedented accuracy using large data sets and propose an analytical description for the regions of isolated and overlapping resonances.

A novel method for the calculation of the energy dispersion relation (EDR) and density of states (DOS) in one (1D) and two (2D) dimensions is introduced and applied to linear lattices (1D) and square and hexagonal lattices (2D). The (van Hove) singularities and (Dirac) zeros of the DOS are discussed. Results for the 2D hexagonal lattice (graphene-like materials) are compared with experimental data in microwave photonic crystals.

Experiments with superconducting microwave cavities have been performed in our laboratory for more than two decades. The purpose of the present article is to recapitulate some of the highlights achieved. We briefly review (i) results obtained with flat, cylindrical microwave resonators, so-called microwave billiards, concerning the universal fluctuation properties of the eigenvalues of classically chaotic systems with no, a threefold and a broken symmetry; (ii) summarize our findings concerning the wave-dynamical chaos in three-dimensional microwave cavities; (iii) present a new approach for the understanding of the phenomenon of dynamical tunneling which was developed on the basis of experiments that were performed recently with unprecedented precision, and finally, (iv) give an insight into an ongoing project, where we investigate universal properties of (artificial) graphene with superconducting microwave photonic crystals that are enclosed in a microwave resonator, i.e., so-called Dirac billiards.

Experiments have been performed using a spherical superconducting microwave resonator that simulates the geometric structure of the C60 fullerene molecule. The objective was to study with very high resolution the exceptional spectral properties emerging from the symmetries of the icosahedral structure of the carbon lattice. In particular, the number of zero modes has been determined to test the predictions of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem, which relates it to the topology of the curved carbon lattice. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first experimental verification of the index theorem.

We determine with unprecedented accuracy the lowest 900 eigenvalues of two quantum constant-width billiards from resonance spectra measured with flat, superconducting microwave resonators. While the classical dynamics of the constant-width billiards is unidirectional, a change of the direction of motion is possible in the corresponding quantum system via dynamical tunneling. This becomes manifest in a splitting of the vast majority of resonances into doublets of nearly degenerate ones. The fluctuation properties of the two respective spectra are demonstrated to coincide with those of a random-matrix model for systems with violated time-reversal invariance and a mixed dynamics. Furthermore, we investigate tunneling in terms of the splittings of the doublet partners. On the basis of the random-matrix model we derive an analytical expression for the splitting distribution which is generally applicable to systems exhibiting dynamical tunneling between two regions with (predominantly) chaotic dynamics.

Scattering experiments with microwave cavities were performed and the effects of broken time-reversal invariance (TRI), induced by means of a magnetized ferrite placed inside the cavity, on an isolated doublet of nearly degenerate resonances were investigated. All elements of the effective Hamiltonian of this two-level system were extracted. As a function of two experimental parameters, the doublet and also the associated eigenvectors could be tuned to coalesce at a so-called exceptional point (EP). The behavior of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors when encircling the EP in parameter space was studied, including the geometric amplitude that builds up in the case of broken TRI. A one-dimensional subspace of parameters was found where the differences of the eigenvalues are either real or purely imaginary. There, the Hamiltonians were found PT-invariant under the combined operation of parity (P) and time reversal (T) in a generalized sense. The EP is the point of transition between both regions. There a spontaneous breaking of PT occurs.

We investigated the frequency spectra and field distributions of a dielectric square resonator in a microwave experiment. Since such systems cannot be treated analytically, the experimental studies of their properties are indispensable. The momentum representation of the measured field distributions shows that all resonant modes are localized on specific classical tori of the square billiard. Based on these observations a semiclassical model was developed. It shows excellent agreement with all but a single class of measured field distributions that will be treated separately., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

We present experimental results for the density of states (DOS) of a superconducting microwave Dirac billiard which serves as an idealized model for the electronic properties of graphene. The DOS exhibits two sharp peaks which evolve into van Hove singularities with increasing system size. They divide the band structure into regions governed by the \emph{relativistic} Dirac equation and by the \emph{non-relativistic} Schr\"odinger equation, respectively. We demonstrate that in the thermodynamic limit a topological transition appears as a neck-disrupting Lifshitz transition in the number susceptibility and as an excited state transition in the electronic excitations. Furthermore, we recover the finite-size scaling typical for excited state quantum phase transitions involving logarithmic divergences and identify a quasi-order parameter.

Quantum wires and electromagnetic waveguides possess common features since their physics is described by the same wave equation. We exploit this analogy to investigate experimentally with microwave waveguides and theoretically with the help of an effective potential approach the occurrence of bound states in sharply bent quantum wires. In particular, we compute the bound states, study the features of the transition from a bound to an unbound state caused by the variation of the bending angle and determine the critical bending angles at which such a transition takes place. The predictions are confirmed by calculations based on a conventional numerical method as well as experimental measurements of the spectra and electric field intensity distributions of electromagnetic waveguides.

We measured the resonance spectra of two stadium-shaped dielectric microwave resonators and tested a semiclassical trace formula for chaotic dielectric resonators proposed by Bogomolny et al. [Phys. Rev. E 78, 056202 (2008)]. We found good qualitative agreement between the experimental data and the predictions of the trace formula. Deviations could be attributed to missing resonances in the measured spectra in accordance with previous experiments [Phys. Rev. E 81, 066215 (2010)]. The investigation of the numerical length spectrum showed good qualitative and reasonable quantitative agreement with the trace formula. It demonstrated, however, the need for higher-order corrections of the trace formula. The application of a curvature correction to the Fresnel reflection coefficients entering the trace formula yielded better agreement, but deviations remained, indicating the necessity of further investigations., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

The length spectra of flat three-dimensional dielectric resonators of circular shape were determined from a microwave experiment. They were compared to a semiclassical trace formula obtained within a two-dimensional model based on the effective index of refraction approximation and a good agreement was found. It was necessary to take into account the dispersion of the effective index of refraction for the two-dimensional approximation. Furthermore, small deviations between the experimental length spectrum and the trace formula prediction were attributed to the systematic error of the effective index of refraction approximation. In summary, the methods developed in this article enable the application of the trace formula for two-dimensional dielectric resonators also to realistic, flat three-dimensional dielectric microcavities and -lasers, allowing for the interpretation of their spectra in terms of classical periodic orbits., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, 1 table

This article presents experimental results on properties of waves propagating in an unbounded and a bounded photonic crystal consisting of metallic cylinders which are arranged in a triangular lattice. First, we present transmission measurements of plane waves traversing a photonic crystal. The experiments are performed in the vicinity of a Dirac point, i.e., an isolated conical singularity of the photonic band structure. There, the transmission shows a pseudodiffusive 1/L dependence, with $L$ being the thickness of the crystal, a phenomenon also observed in graphene. Second, eigenmode intensity distributions measured in a microwave analog of a relativistic Dirac billiard, a rectangular microwave billiard that contains a photonic crystal, are discussed. Close to the Dirac point states have been detected which are localized at the straight edge of the photonic crystal corresponding to a zigzag edge in graphene.

We demonstrate the presence of parity-time (PT) symmetry for the non-Hermitian two-state Hamiltonian of a dissipative microwave billiard in the vicinity of an exceptional point (EP). The shape of the billiard depends on two parameters. The Hamiltonian is determined from the measured resonance spectrum on a fine grid in the parameter plane. After applying a purely imaginary diagonal shift to the Hamiltonian, its eigenvalues are either real or complex conjugate on a curve, which passes through the EP. An appropriate basis choice reveals its PT symmetry. Spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs at the EP.

Single and double-slit experiments are performed with two microwave billiards with the shapes of a rectangle, respectively, a quarter stadium. The classical dynamics of the former is regular, that of the latter is chaotic. Microwaves can leave the billiards via slits in the boundary, forming interference patterns on a screen. The aim is to determine the effect of the billiard dynamics on their structure. For this the development of a method for the construction of a directed wave packet by means of an array of multiple antennas was crucial. The interference patterns show a sensitive dependence not only on the billiard dynamics but also on the initial position and direction of the wave packet., Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures

An important parameter to characterize the scattering matrix S for quantum-chaotic scattering is the width Gamma_{corr} of the S-matrix autocorrelation function. We show that the "Weisskopf estimate" d/(2pi) sum_c T_c (where d is the mean resonance spacing, T_c with 0 <= T_c <= 1 the "transmission coefficient" in channel c and where the sum runs over all channels) provides a very good approximation to Gamma_{corr} even when the number of channels is small. That same conclusion applies also to the cross-section correlation function.

We report on the experimental study of an exceptional point (EP) in a dissipative microwave billiard with induced time-reversal invariance (T) violation. The associated two-state Hamiltonian is non-Hermitian and non-symmetric. It is determined experimentally on a narrow grid in a parameter plane around the EP. At the EP the size of T violation is given by the relative phase of the eigenvector components. The eigenvectors are adiabatically transported around the EP, whereupon they gather geometric phases and in addition geometric amplitudes different from unity.

Resonance spectra of two-dimensional dielectric microwave resonators of circular and square shapes have been measured. The deduced length spectra of periodic orbits were analyzed and a trace formula for dielectric resonators recently proposed by Bogomolny et al. [Phys. Rev. E 78, 056202 (2008)] was tested. The observed deviations between the experimental length spectra and the predictions of the trace formula are attributed to a large number of missing resonances in the measured spectra. We show that by taking into account the systematics of observed and missing resonances the experimental length spectra are fully understood. In particular, a connection between the most long-lived resonances and certain periodic orbits is established experimentally., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, 1 table

We present measurements of transmission and reflection spectra of a microwave photonic crystal composed of 874 metallic cylinders arranged in a triangular lattice. The spectra show clear evidence of a Dirac point, a characteristic of a spectrum of relativistic massless fermions. In fact, Dirac points are a peculiar property of the electronic band structure of graphene, whose properties consequently can be described by the relativistic Dirac equation. In the vicinity of the Dirac point, the measured reflection spectra resemble those obtained by conductance measurements in scanning tunneling microscopy of graphene flakes.

A measurement of the decay in time of nuclei excited by an intense short laser pulse of energy E(0) yields the Fourier transform of the autocorrelation function of the associated scattering matrix. We determine the optimal length (in time) of the pulse and evaluate the time-decay function using random-matrix theory. That function is shown to contain information not otherwise available. We approximate that function in a manner that is useful for the analysis of data. For E(0) below the threshold energy E(n) of the first neutron channel, the time-decay function is exponential in time t while it is the product of an exponential and a power in t for E(0) > E(n). The comparison of the measured decay functions in both energy domains yields an unambiguous and novel test of random-matrix theory in nuclei., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

For the theoretical prediction of cross-section fluctuations in chaotic scattering, the cross-section autocorrelation function is needed. That function is not known analytically. Using experimental data and numerical simulations, we show that an analytical approximation to the cross-section autocorrelation function can be obtained with the help of expressions first derived by Davis and Boose. Given the values of the average S-matrix elements and the mean level density of the scattering system, one can then reliably predict cross-section fluctuations.

In a frequency range where a microwave resonator simulates a chaotic quantum billiard, we have measured moduli and phases of reflection and transmission amplitudes in the regimes of both isolated and of weakly overlapping resonances and for resonators with and without time-reversal invariance. Statistical measures for S-matrix fluctuations were determined from the data and compared with extant and/or newly derived theoretical results obtained from the random-matrix approach to quantum chaotic scattering. The latter contained a small number of fit parameters. The large data sets taken made it possible to test the theoretical expressions with unprecedented accuracy. The theory is confirmed by both, a goodness-of-fit-test and the agreement of predicted values for those statistical measures that were not used for the fits, with the data.

Friedel oscillations of electron densities near step edges have an analog in microwave billiards. A random plane wave model, normally only appropriate for the eigenfunctions of a purely chaotic system, can be applied and is tested for non-purely-chaotic dynamical systems with measurements on pseudo-integrable and mixed dynamics geometries. It is found that the oscillations in the pseudo-integrable microwave cavity matches the random plane-wave modeling. Separating the chaotic from the regular states for the mixed system requires incorporating an appropriate phase space projection into the modeling in multiple ways for good agreement with experiment.

Nonperiodic tunable quantum echoes have been observed in experiments with an open microwave billiard whose geometry under certain conditions provides Fibonacci like sequences of classical delay times. These sequences combined with the reflection at the opening induced by the wave character of the experiment and the size of the opening allow to shape quantum pulses. The pulses are obtained by response of an integrable scattering system.

Open dielectric resonators of different shapes are widely used for the manufacture of microlasers. A precise determination of their resonance frequencies and widths is crucial for their design. Most microlasers have a flat cylindrical geometry, and a two-dimensional approximation, the so-called method of the effective index of refraction, is commonly employed for numerical calculations. Our aim has been an experimental test of the precision and applicability of a model based on this approximation. We performed very thorough and accurate measurements of the resonance frequencies and widths of two passive circular dielectric microwave resonators and found significant deviations from the model predictions. From this we conclude that the model generally fails in the quantitative description of three-dimensional dielectric resonators., Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures

We measure the complex scattering amplitudes of a flat microwave cavity (a "chaotic billiard"). Time-reversal T-invariance is partially broken by a magnetized ferrite placed within the cavity. We extend the random-matrix approach to T-violation in scattering, fit some of the properties of the scattering amplitudes, and then successfully predict others. Our work constitutes the most precise test of the theoretical approach to T-violation within the framework of random-matrix theory so far available.

We measure the transmission and reflection amplitudes of microwaves in a resonator coupled to two antennas at room temperature in the regime of weakly overlapping resonances and in a frequency range of 3 to 16 GHz. Below 10.1 GHz the resonator simulates a chaotic quantum system. The distribution of the elements of the scattering matrix S is not Gaussian. The Fourier coefficients of S are used for a best fit of the autocorrelation function if S to a theoretical expression based on random--matrix theory. We find very good agreement below but not above 10.1 GHz.

We study the classical and quantum mechanics of a three-dimensional stadium billiard. It consists of two quarter cylinders that are rotated with respect to each other by 90 degrees, and it is classically chaotic. The billiard exhibits only a few families of nongeneric periodic orbits. We introduce an analytic method for their treatment. The length spectrum can be understood in terms of the nongeneric and unstable periodic orbits. For unequal radii of the quarter cylinders the level statistics agree well with predictions from random matrix theory. For equal radii the billiard exhibits an additional symmetry. We investigated the effects of symmetry breaking on spectral properties. Moreover, for equal radii, we observe a small deviation of the level statistics from random matrix theory. This led to the discovery of stable and marginally stable orbits, which are absent for un equal radii., Comment: 11 pages, 10 eps figures

A statistical analysis of the eigenfrequencies of two sets of superconducting microwave billiards, one with mushroom-like shape and the other from the familiy of the Limacon billiards, is presented. These billiards have mixed regular-chaotic dynamics but different structures in their classical phase spaces. The spectrum of each billiard is represented as a time series where the level order plays the role of time. Two most important findings follow from the time-series analysis. First, the spectra can be characterized by two distinct relaxation lengths. This is a prerequisite for the validity of the superstatistical approach which is based on the folding of two distribution functions. Second, the shape of the resulting probability density function of the so-called superstatistical parameter is reasonably approximated by an inverse chi-square distribution. This distribution is used to compute nearest-neighbor spacing distributions and compare them with those of the resonance frequencies of billiards with mixed dynamics within the framework of superstatistics. The obtained spacing distribution is found to present a good description of the experimental ones and is of the same or even better quality as a number of other spacing distributions, including the one from Berry and Robnik. However, in contrast to other approaches towards a theoretical description of spectral properties of systems with mixed dynamics, superstatistics also provides a description of properties of the eigenfunctions. Indeed, the inverse chi-square parameter distribution is found suitable for the analysis of experimental resonance strengths in the Limacon billiards within the framework of superstatistics., Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures

Properties of a quantum mushroom billiard in the form of a superconducting microwave resonator have been investigated. They reveal unexpected nonuniversal features such as, e.g., a supershell effect in the level density and a dip in the nearest-neighbor spacing distribution. Theoretical predictions for the quantum properties of mixed systems rely on the sharp separability of phase space - an unusual property met by mushroom billiards. We however find deviations which are ascribed to the presence of dynamic tunneling., Comment: 4 pages, 7 .eps-figures

Using reciprocity, we investigate the breaking of time-reversal (T) symmetry due to a ferrite embedded in a flat microwave billiard. Transmission spectra of isolated single resonances are not sensitive to T-violation whereas those of pairs of nearly degenerate resonances do depend on the direction of time. For their theoretical description a scattering matrix model from nuclear physics is used. The T-violating matrix elements of the effective Hamiltonian for the microwave billiard with the embedded ferrite are determined experimentally as functions of the magnetization of the ferrite., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We experimentally investigated the decay behavior with time t of resonances near and at exceptional points, where two complex eigenvalues and also the associated eigenfunctions coalesce. The measurements were performed with a dissipative microwave billiard, whose shape depends on two parameters. The t^2-dependence predicted at the exceptional point on the basis of a two-state matrix model could be verified. Outside the exceptional point the predicted Rabi oscillations, also called quantum echoes in this context, were detected. To our knowledge this is the first time that quantum echoes related to exceptional points were observed experimentally., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

With a perturbation body technique intensity distributions of the electric field strength in a flat microwave billiard with a barrier inside up to mode numbers as large as about 700 were measured. A method for the reconstruction of the amplitudes and phases of the electric field strength from those intensity distributions has been developed. Recently predicted superscars have been identified experimentally and - using the well known analogy between the electric field strength and the quantum mechanical wave function in a two-dimensional microwave billiard - their properties determined., Comment: 4 pages, 5 .eps figures

Mushroom billiards have the remarkable property to show one or more clear cut integrable islands in one or several chaotic seas, without any fractal boundaries. The islands correspond to orbits confined to the hats of the mushrooms, which they share with the chaotic orbits. It is thus interesting to ask how long a chaotic orbit will remain in the hat before returning to the stem. This question is equivalent to the inquiry about delay times for scattering from the hat of the mushroom into an opening where the stem should be. For fixed angular momentum we find that no more than three different delay times are possible. This induces striking nonperiodic structures in the delay times that may be of importance for mesoscopic devices and should be accessible to microwave experiments., Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. E without the appendix

We present experimental results on the eigenfrequency statistics of a superconducting, chaotic microwave billiard containing a rotatable obstacle. Deviations of the spectral fluctuations from predictions based on Gaussian orthogonal ensembles of random matrices are found. They are explained by treating the billiard as an open scattering system in which microwave power is coupled in and out via antennas. To study the interaction of the quantum (or wave) system with its environment a highly sensitive parametric correlator is used., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

A self-pulsing effect termed quantum echoes has been observed in experiments with an open superconducting and a normal conducting microwave billiard whose geometry provides soft chaos, i.e. a mixed phase space portrait with a large stable island. For such systems a periodic response to an incoming pulse has been predicted. Its period has been associated to the degree of development of a horseshoe describing the topology of the classical dynamics. The experiments confirm this picture and reveal the topological information., Comment: RevTex 4.0, 5 eps-figures

We calculate analytically the geometric phases that the eigenvectors of a parametric dissipative two-state system described by a complex symmetric Hamiltonian pick up when an exceptional point (EP) is encircled. An EP is a parameter setting where the two eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian coalesce. We show that it can be encircled on a path along which the eigenvectors remain approximately real and discuss a microwave cavity experiment, where such an encircling of an EP was realized. Since the wavefunctions remain approximately real, they could be reconstructed from the nodal lines of the recorded spatial intensity distributions of the electric fields inside the resonator. We measured the geometric phases that occur when an EP is encircled four times and thus confirmed that for our system an EP is a branch point of fourth order., Comment: RevTex 4.0, four eps-figures (low resolution)

In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. E 67, 026204 (2003)], Rotter calculates the geometric phases that are picked up by the eigenvectors of a two-state quantum system when an exceptional point is encircled. In addition to the geometric phases observed by Dembowski et al. in a microwave cavity experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 787 (2001)], she finds a phase factor of i. We show that Rotters results are inconsistent.

A microwave experiment has been realized to measure the phase difference of the oscillating electric field at two points inside the cavity. The technique has been applied to a dissipative resonator which exhibits a singularity -- called exceptional point -- in its eigenvalue and eigenvector spectrum. At the singularity, two modes coalesce with a phase difference of $\pi/2 .$ We conclude that the state excited at the singularity has a definitiv chirality., Comment: RevTex 4, 5 figures

The spectral properties of a two-dimensional microwave billiard showing threefold symmetry have been studied with a new experimental technique. This method is based on the behavior of the eigenmodes under variation of a phase shift between two input channels, which strongly depends on the symmetries of the eigenfunctions. Thereby a complete set of 108 Kramers doublets has been identified by a simple and purely experimental method. This set clearly shows Gaussian unitary ensemble statistics, although the system is time-reversal invariant., Comment: RevTex 4, 5 figures

We have measured resonance spectra in a superconducting microwave cavity with the shape of a three-dimensional generalized Bunimovich stadium billiard and analyzed their spectral fluctuation properties. The experimental length spectrum exhibits contributions from periodic orbits of non-generic modes and from unstable periodic orbit of the underlying classical system. It is well reproduced by our theoretical calculations based on the trace formula derived by Balian and Duplantier for chaotic electromagnetic cavities., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures (reduced quality)