Anomalous Localization of Light in One-Dimensional Lévy Photonic Lattices

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Optics
• Condensed Matter Physics

Background:

• Wave localization is well-studied in homogeneous random media.
• Inhomogeneous disorder effects on wave localization are less understood.
• Standard Anderson localization theory may not apply to inhomogeneous media.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate wave localization in photonic lattices with inhomogeneous disorder.
• Characterize the spatial distribution of localized waves.
• Compare findings with standard Anderson localization.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of photonic lattices with inhomogeneous disorder.
• Modeling disorder using heavy-tailed α-stable distributions.
• Measurement of output light intensity profiles.
• Extensive tight-binding simulations.

Main Results:

• Spatial localization of light is described by a stretched exponential function.
• A stretching parameter, α, characterizes the localization.
• The localized profile is asymmetric with respect to the excitation site.
• Experimental findings align with theoretical simulations.

Conclusions:

• Inhomogeneous disorder leads to unique wave localization phenomena.
• The stretched exponential function accurately describes light localization in these systems.
• This work extends the understanding of wave localization beyond homogeneous media.