Modes and exceptional points in waveguides with impedance boundary conditions

A planar waveguide with an impedance boundary, composed of nonperfect metallic plates, and with passive or active dielectric filling, is considered. We show the possibility of selective mode guiding and amplification when a homogeneous pump is added to the dielectric and analyze differences in TE and TM mode propagation. Such a non-conservative system is also shown to feature exceptional points for specific and experimentally tunable parameters, which are described for a particular case of transparent dielectric.