Self-Induced Diffusion in Disordered Nonlinear Photonic Media

Yonatan Sharabi, Hanan Herzig Sheinfux, Yoav Sagi, Gadi Eisenstein, Mordechai Segev

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We find that waves propagating in a 1D medium that is homogeneous in its linear properties but spatially disordered in its nonlinear coefficients undergo diffusive transport, instead of being Anderson localized as always occurs for linear disordered media. Specifically, electromagnetic waves in a multilayer structure with random nonlinear coefficients exhibit diffusion with features fundamentally different from the traditional diffusion in linear noninteracting systems. This unique transport, which stems from the nonlinear interaction between the waves and the disordered medium, displays anomalous statistical behavior where the fields in multiple different realizations converge to the same intensity value as they penetrate deeper into the medium.

Original languageEnglish
Article number233901
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume121
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - 7 Dec 2018

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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