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Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities
Published on: November 30, 2012
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Wave and defect dynamics in nonlinear photonic quasicrystals
Barak Freedman1, Guy Bartal, Mordechai Segev
1Physics Department and Solid State Institute, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
Nature
|April 28, 2006
Summary
Researchers created photonic quasicrystals to study wave transport, observing quantum tunneling-like behavior and dislocation dynamics. These findings offer insights into various quasiperiodic systems, from atomic structures to light waves.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Photonics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Quasicrystals exhibit long-range order without periodicity, posing challenges for traditional analytical tools.
- Unique properties like fractal band structures and phason degrees of freedom distinguish them from periodic crystals.
- Direct observation of electronic wave evolution and structural dynamics in atomic quasicrystals is difficult.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally investigate wave transport phenomena in quasicrystalline structures.
- To explore the analogy between light propagation in photonic quasicrystals and quantum tunneling in quasiperiodic potentials.
- To directly observe dislocation dynamics in a macroscopic quasicrystal model.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of two-dimensional photonic quasicrystals using optical induction.
- Launching light at different sites within the quasicrystal lattice to study wave propagation.
- High-intensity light experiments to induce and observe lattice solitons.
- Observing the interaction and dynamics of crystal sites to study dislocation phenomena.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that light transport in photonic quasicrystals mimics quantum tunneling of electrons in quasiperiodic potentials.
- Observed the formation of lattice solitons at high light intensities.
- Directly visualized dislocation dynamics within the quasicrystal lattice.
- Validated the applicability of findings to diverse quasiperiodic systems.
Conclusions:
- Photonic quasicrystals provide a macroscopic platform for studying complex phenomena in quasiperiodic systems.
- The observed light transport phenomena offer insights into quantum tunneling and wave dynamics.
- The experimental approach is broadly applicable to other quasiperiodic systems, including atomic quasicrystals and matter waves.
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