Route to strong localization of light: The role of disorder

Molinari, Diego P.; Fratalocchi, Andrea

Type

Article

Authors

Molinari, Diego P.
Fratalocchi, Andrea

KAUST Department

Applied Mathematics and Computational Science Program
Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) Division
Electrical Engineering Program
PRIMALIGHT Research Group
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division

Date

2012-07-23

Online Publication Date

2012-07-23

Print Publication Date

2012-07-30

Permanent link to this record

http://hdl.handle.net/10754/562013

Metadata

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Abstract

By employing Random Matrix Theory (RMT) and firstprinciple calculations, we investigated the behavior of Anderson localization in 1D, 2D and 3D systems characterized by a varying disorder. In particular, we considered random binary layer sequences in 1D and structurally disordered photonic crystals in two and three dimensions. We demonstrated the existence of a unique optimal degree of disorder that yields the strongest localization possible. In this regime, localized modes are constituted by defect states, which can show subwavelength confinement properties. These results suggest that disorder offers a new avenue for subwavelength light localization in purely dielectric media. © 2012 Optical Society of America.

Citation

Molinari, D., & Fratalocchi, A. (2012). Route to strong localization of light: the role of disorder. Optics Express, 20(16), 18156. doi:10.1364/oe.20.018156

Sponsors

For computer time, this research used the resources of the Supercomputing Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Numerical simulations have been performed with our NANOCPP code, which is an homemade, highly scalable 2D/3D FDTD code expressively developed for large scale parallel simulations of disordered materials. D. Molinari acknowledges partial support from PRIN MIUR 2009. The authors thank G. Ruocco and P. de Bernardis for fruitful discussions.