Abstract
Anderson localization is a halt of diffusive wave propagation in disordered systems. Despite extensive studies over the past 40 years, Anderson localization of light in three dimensions has remained elusive, leading to the question of its very existence. Recent advances have enabled finite-difference time-domain calculations to be sped up by orders of magnitude, allowing us to conduct brute-force numerical simulations of light transport in fully disordered three-dimensional systems with unprecedented dimension and refractive index difference. We show numerically three-dimensional localization of vector electromagnetic waves in random aggregates of overlapping metallic spheres, in sharp contrast to the absence of localization for dielectric spheres with a refractive index up to 10 in air. Our work opens a wide range of avenues in both fundamental research related to Anderson localization and potential applications using three-dimensional localized light.
Recommended Citation
A. Yamilov et al., "Anderson localization of electromagnetic waves in three dimensions," Nature Physics, Springer Nature, Jun 2023.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02091-7
Department(s)
Physics
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1745-2481; 1745-2473
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2023 Springer, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
15 Jun 2023
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