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Fabrication and Characterization of Disordered Polymer Optical Fibers for Transverse Anderson Localization of Light
Published on: July 29, 2013
Absence of Anderson localization of light in a random ensemble of point scatterers
1Université Grenoble 1/CNRS, LPMMC UMR 5493, B.P. 166, 38042 Grenoble, France.
Abstract:
As discovered by Philip Anderson in 1958, strong disorder can block propagation of waves and lead to the localization of wavelike excitations in space. Anderson localization of light is particularly exciting in view of its possible applications for random lasing or quantum information processing. We show that, surprisingly, Anderson localization of light cannot be achieved in a random three-dimensional ensemble of point scattering centers that is the simplest and widespread model to study the multiple scattering of waves. Localization is recovered if the vector character of light is neglected. This shows that, at least for point scatterers, the polarization of light plays an important role in the Anderson localization problem.
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