Anderson localization in synthetic photonic lattices

Ilya D. Vatnik, Alexey Tikan, Georgy Onishchukov, Dmitry V. Churkin*, Andrey A. Sukhorukov

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    54 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Synthetic photonic lattices provide unique capabilities to realize theoretical concepts emerging in different fields of wave physics via the utilization of powerful photonic technologies. Here we observe experimentally Anderson localization for optical pulses in time domain, using a photonic mesh lattice composed of coupled fiber loops. We introduce a random potential through programmed electro-optic pulse phase modulation, and identify the localization features associated with varying degree of disorder. Furthermore, we present a practical approach to control the band-gap width in photonic lattices by varying the coupling between the fiber loops, and reveal that the strongest degree of localization is limited and increases in lattices with wider band-gaps. Importantly, this opens a possibility to enhance or reduce the effect of disorder and associated localization of optical pulses.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number4301
    JournalScientific Reports
    Volume7
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2017

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