Two-dimensional non-Hermitian skin effect in an ultracold Fermi gas

The concept of non-Hermiticity has expanded the understanding of band topology, leading to the emergence of counter-intuitive phenomena. An example is the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE)1–7, which involves the concentration of eigenstates at the boundary. However, despite the potential insights that can be gained from high-dimensional non-Hermitian quantum systems in areas such as curved space8–10, high-order topological phases11,12 and black holes13,14, the realization of this effect in high dimensions remains unexplored. Here we create a two-dimensional (2D) non-Hermitian topological band for ultracold fermions in spin–orbit-coupled optical lattices with tunable dissipation, which exhibits the NHSE. We first experimentally demonstrate pronounced nonzero spectral winding numbers in the complex energy plane with nonzero dissipation, which establishes the existence of 2D skin effect. Furthermore, we observe the real-space dynamical signature of NHSE in real space by monitoring the centre of mass motion of atoms. Finally, we also demonstrate that a pair of exceptional points are created in the momentum space, connected by an open-ended bulk Fermi arc, in contrast to closed loops found in Hermitian systems. The associated exceptional points emerge and shift with increasing dissipation, leading to the formation of the Fermi arc. Our work sets the stage for further investigation into simulating non-Hermitian physics in high dimensions and paves the way for understanding the interplay of quantum statistics with NHSE.