Speaker
Description
All waves – quantum or classical, mechanical or electromagnetic – often behave in a similar way. It turns out, however, that electromagnetic waves in general and light in particular are very different from other types of waves when propagation in strongly disordered media is concerned. Whereas matter, acoustic or elastic waves experience Anderson localization in any space dimension (and, in particular, in 3D), this phenomenon is notoriously difficult to realize for light in 3D. Experimental reports existing for 30 years have been continuously questioned. Theoretical studies indicate that longitudinal electromagnetic fields may be an obstacle for Anderson localization. Only very recently we have been able to capitalize on previous theoretical studies to design an experiment in which Anderson localization of light in 3D has been observed. In this talk, I will review the exciting research that led to this recent success.