Ghost-wave momentum bandgaps in anisotropic Floquet lattices

Abstract

Momentum bandgaps, characterized by complex frequencies and non-resonant amplification effects, provide a powerful route for wave manipulation beyond conventional band theory. Here, we introduce a distinct mechanism for momentum-gap engineering in higher-dimensional Schrödinger-type Floquet lattices by exploiting the intrinsically complex wave vectors of ghost waves, with complex-frequency excitation providing an additional degree of freedom for continuously tailoring the ghost-wave branch and the associated Floquet spectrum. Furthermore, we show that the higher-dimensional Floquet band structure supports momentum bandgaps extending across the entire Brillouin zone along the propagation direction and enables amplification over a broad frequency range under arbitrarily weak modulation. When the lattice is truncated along the ghost-wave decay direction, the resulting Floquet waveguide exhibits broadband reflectionless pulse amplification. Our results establish a higher-dimensional framework for ghost-wave momentum-gap physics and reveal new opportunities for non-Bloch wave engineering in time-varying photonic systems.