Reciprocal skin effect and its realization in a topolectrical circuit

Understand

A system is non-Hermitian when it exchanges energy with its environment and non-reciprocal when it behaves differently upon the interchange of input and response.

• Within the field of metamaterial research on synthetic topological matter, the skin effect describes the conspiracy of non-Hermiticity and non-reciprocity to yield extensive anomalous localization of all eigenmodes in a (quasi) one-dimensional geometry.
• Here, we introduce the reciprocal skin effect, which occurs in non-Hermitian but reciprocal systems in two or more dimensions: Eigenmodes with opposite longitudinal momentum exhibit opposite transverse anomalous localization.
• We experimentally demonstrate the reciprocal skin effect in a passive RLC circuit, suggesting convenient alternative implementations in optical, acoustic, mechanical, and related platforms.