2023-06-21 11:19:00
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21.06.2023 14:19, Gennady Detinich
International group of physicists first was able to obtain convincing evidence of the localization of an electromagnetic wave in three-dimensional materials. Roughly speaking, the light is “frozen” in the volume of the material. The discovery was made on a digital model due to significantly increased computing power and in the future will make it possible to conduct a physical experiment, and this is the way to breakthroughs in optics, lasers and other areas.
Image Source: Pixabay
Strictly speaking, the researchers were looking for evidence of the existence of the so-called transition or Anderson localizations. This phenomenon was theoretically substantiated in 1958 by the American theoretical physicist Philip V. Anderson, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977. The phenomenon became the most important in the description of condensed matter physics for both quantum and classical mechanics.
The scientist explained that depending on the random distribution of defects in the material, the electrons will either move, creating an electric current, or fall into the traps of defects and stop there (become localized) and then the material will demonstrate the properties of an insulator (dielectric). How electromagnetic waves behave under similar conditions was not completely clear. In one or two dimensions, light showed similar properties, but this phenomenon was not found for bulk materials.
New computers and optimized software (FDTD Software Tidy3D) made it possible to carry out colossal calculations in just 30 minutes instead of many days. The model showed that the phenomenon was not found for glass and silicon, which was a simple explanation why decades of experimentation with these materials did not yield results. But for a bulk material made of metal nanospheres, calculations unexpectedly showed that an electromagnetic wave is indeed localized in space.
Light “frozen” in the volume of material. Digital model of the phenomenon. Image Source: Yale University
Simulations have confirmed that light (as a special case of electromagnetic waves) can be made to interact with bulk material. This will make it possible to discover new photocatalysts, advance in the field of lasers (creating advanced resonators, etc.), as well as make discoveries in the field of energy accumulation and storage.
“Three-dimensional confinement of light in porous metals can enhance optical non-linearity, the interaction of light and matter, allow you to control random luminescence and targeted energy deposition, the researchers say. “We expect this phenomenon to have many applications.”
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