Work

Band gap formation and Anderson localization in disordered photonic materials with structural correlations

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: Disordered dielectric materials with structural correlations show unconventional optical behavior: They can be transparent to long-wavelength radiation, while at the same time have isotropic band gaps in another frequency range. This phenomenon raises fundamental questions concerning photon transport through disordered media. While optical transparency in these materials is robust against recurrent multiple scattering, little is known about other transport regimes like diffusive multiple scattering or Anderson localization. Here, we investigate band gaps, and we report Anderson localization in 2D disordered dielectric structures using numerical simulations of the density of states and optical transport statistics. The disordered structures are designed with different levels of positional correlation encoded by the degree of stealthiness [Formula: see text] To establish a unified view, we propose a correlation-frequency ([Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text]) transport phase diagram. Our results show that, depending only on [Formula: see text], a dielectric material can transition from localization behavior to a band gap crossing an intermediate regime dominated by tunneling between weakly coupled states.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1705130114

Authors: Luis S. Froufe-Pérez, Michael Engel, Juan José Sáenz, Frank Scheffold

Institutions: University of Fribourg, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Ikerbasque, Donostia International Physics Center

Language: English

Topic: Random lasers and scattering media

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green