CREF TALK – AULA FERMI
Wednesday, February 22th 2023
Speaker : Romolo Savo
Abstract
Light transport in disordered media provides a powerful toolbox for investigating wave phenomena in complex systems. From light diffusion to the Anderson localization of light, fundamental results in this field have advanced solid-state physics and have found applications in imaging, spectroscopy, lasing, and sensing. This topic is continuously evolving, as shown by the recent emergence of hidden laws and unexpected behaviors.
Complex photonics, i.e., the photonics of complex media, looks at the disordered medium as a multifunctional photonic device. The characteristic broadband response, the vast mode-reservoir, and the efficient mode-mixing capability are of interest to a growing number of applications related to sensing and computing. Introduction and harnessing of a nonlinear response of the disordered medium is the current challenge, with a potential impact on artificial intelligence and quantum information.
In this talk, I will present selected contributions from my work on the role of disorder in complex photonics. The experiment led to the first observation of the mean path length invariance in disordered light-scattering media. The engineering of photonic disorder in a self-similar way goes beyond classical light diffusion and reaches light superdiffusion. The coupling between disorder, nonlinearity, and Mie resonances in a complex nanophotonic system increases the second-harmonic efficiency and reduces the material fabrication footprint of nonlinear photonic devices. I will conclude by introducing the project Comp-SECOONDO, in which I am going to explore the use of nonlinear disordered photonic media as platforms for efficient and sustainable optical computing.