Theory of strong localization effects of light in disordered loss or gain media

We present a systematical theory for the interplay of strong localization effects and absorption or gain of classical waves in 3-dimensional, disordered dielectrics. The theory is based on the selfconsistent Cooperon resummation, implementing the effects of energy conservation and its absorptive or emissive corrections by an exact, generalized Ward identity. Substantial renormalizations are found, depending on whether the absorption/gain occurs in the scatterers or in the background medium. We find a finite, gain-induced correlation volume which may be significantly smaller than the scale set by the scattering mean free path, even if there are no truly localized modes. Possible consequences for coherent feedback in random lasers as well as the possibility of oscillatory in time behavior induced by sufficiently strong gain are discussed.Comment: Published versio

Light diffusion and localization in 3D nonlinear disordered media

Using a 3D Finite-Difference Time-Domain parallel code, we report on the linear and nonlinear propagation of light pulses in a disordered assembly of scatterers, whose spatial distribution is generated by a Molecular Dynamics code; refractive index dispersion is also taken into account. We calculate the static and dynamical diffusion constant of light, while considering a pulsed excitation. Our results are in quantitative agreement with reported experiments, also furnishing evidence of a non-exponential decay of the transmitted pulse in the linear regime and in the presence of localized modes. By using an high power excitation, we numerically demonstrate the ``modulational instability random laser'': at high peak input powers energy is transferred to localized states from the input pulse, via third-order nonlinearity and optical parametric amplification, and this process is signed by a power-dependent non-exponential time-decay of the transmitted pulse.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Revised version with new figure 4 with localized state

Photonic artificial muscles: From micro robots to tissue engineering

Light responsive shape-changing polymers are able to mimic the function of biological muscles accomplishing mechanical work in response to selected stimuli. A variety of manufacturing techniques and chemical processes can be employed to shape these materials to different length scales, from centimeter fibers and films to 3D printed micrometric objects trying to replicate biological functions and operations. Controlled deformations shown to mimick basic animal operations such as walking, swimming or grabbing objects, while also controlling the refractive index and the geometry of devices, opens up the potential to implement tunable optical properties. Another possibility is that of combining artificial polymers with cells or biological tissue (such as intact cardiac trabeculae) with the aim to improve tissue formation in vitro or to support the mechanical function of damaged biological muscles. Such versatility is afforded by chemistry. New customized liquid crystalline monomers are presented here that modulate material properties for different applications. The role of synthetic material composition is highlighted as we demonstrate how using apparently similar molecular formulations, that liquid crystalline polymers can be adapted to different technological and medical challenges

A new chiral electro-optic effect: Sum-frequency generation from optically active liquids in the presence of a dc electric field

We report the observation of sum-frequency signals that depend linearly on an applied electrostatic field and that change sign with the handedness of an optically active solution. This recently predicted chiral electro-optic effect exists in the electric-dipole approximation. The static electric field gives rise to an electric-field-induced sum-frequency signal (an achiral third-order process) that interferes with the chirality-specific sum-frequency at second-order. The cross-terms linear in the electrostatic field constitute the effect and may be used to determine the absolute sign of second- and third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities in isotropic media.Comment: Submitted to Physical Revie

A universal ionization threshold for strongly driven Rydberg states

We observe a universal ionization threshold for microwave driven one-electron Rydberg states of H, Li, Na, and Rb, in an {\em ab initio} numerical treatment without adjustable parameters. This sheds new light on old experimental data, and widens the scene for Anderson localization in light matter interaction.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Light scattering from an amplifying medium bounded by a randomly rough surface: A numerical study

We study by numerical simulations the scattering of $s$-polarized light from a rough dielectric film deposited on the planar surface of a semi-infinite perfect conductor. The dielectric film is allowed to be either active or passive, situations that we model by assigning negative and positive values, respectively, to the imaginary part $\epsilon_2$ of the dielectric constant of the film. We study the reflectance ${\cal R}$ and the total scattered energy ${\cal U}$ for the system as functions of both $\epsilon_2$ and the angle of incidence of the light. Furthermore, the positions and widths of the enhanced backscattering and satellite peaks are discussed. It is found that these peaks become narrower and higher when the amplification of the system is increased, and that their widths scale linearly with $\epsilon_2$. The positions of the backscattering peaks are found to be independent of $\epsilon_2$, while we find a weak dependence on this quantity in the positions of the satellite peaks.Comment: Revtex, 9 pages, 9 figure

A Bose-Einstein condensate in a random potential

An optical speckle potential is used to investigate the static and dynamic properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of disorder. For strong disorder the condensate is localized in the deep wells of the potential. With smaller levels of disorder, stripes are observed in the expanded density profile and strong damping of dipole and quadrupole oscillations is seen. Uncorrelated frequency shifts of the two modes are measured for a weak disorder and are explained using a sum-rules approach and by the numerical solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation

Activated Transport in the individual Layers that form the νT\nu_T=1 Exciton Condensate

We observe the total filling factor $\nu_{T}$=1 quantum Hall state in a bilayer two-dimensional electron system with virtually no tunnelling. We find thermally activated transport in the balanced system with a monotonic increase of the activation energy with decreasing $d/\ell_B$ below 1.65. In the imbalanced system we find activated transport in each of the layers separately, yet the activation energies show a striking asymmetry around the balance point. This implies that the gap to charge-excitations in the {\em individual} layers is substantially different for positive and negative imbalance.Comment: 4 pages. 4 figure

Time Dependent Theory for Random Lasers

A model to simulate the phenomenon of random lasing is presented. It couples Maxwell's equations with the rate equations of electronic population in a disordered system. Finite difference time domain methods are used to obtain the field pattern and the spectra of localized lasing modes inside the system. A critical pumping rate $P_{r}^{c}$ exists for the appearance of the lasing peaks. The number of lasing modes increase with the pumping rate and the length of the system. There is a lasing mode repulsion. This property leads to a saturation of the number of modes for a given size system and a relation between the localization length $\xi$ and average mode length $L_m$.Comment: 8 pages. Send to PR