Dephasing-induced jumps in non-Hermitian disordered lattices

Changes in the wavefunction’s phase during propagation in a random Hermitian lattice, a process known as dephasing, results in diffusion rather than Anderson localization. However, when non-Hermiticity is introduced, the wave behavior changes drastically. In particular, we demonstrate that in weakly disordered non-Hermitian lattices, dephasing enhances eigenmode localization which results in abrupt jumps between spatially distant regions. These jumps, which are absent under purely coherent conditions, emerge from the interplay between complex disorder and dephasing.