Topological Anderson random laser

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Disorder Engineering

Background:

• Topological lasers suppress disorder using protected edge transport.
• Random lasers exploit multiple scattering for feedback.
• Unifying these approaches presents a significant challenge in photonics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To theoretically demonstrate a unified framework for topological and random lasers.
• To introduce the concept of a topological Anderson random laser (TARL).
• To explore disorder-induced topological phases for robust lasing.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical modeling of photonic lattices with engineered disorder.
• Analysis of topological phase transitions driven by disorder.
• Investigation of emergent chiral edge states for lasing channels.

Main Results:

• Engineered disorder induces a topological Anderson insulator phase.
• Emergent chiral edge states enable boundary-selective, robust lasing.
• TARLs exhibit rapid mode selection, ultranarrow spectra, and enhanced slope efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Disorder can be harnessed to achieve topologically protected single-mode lasing.
• TARLs offer a new design principle for robust, high-coherence photonic sources.
• This work bridges the gap between topological and random laser paradigms.