Spontaneously Localized Photonic Modes Due to Disorder in the Dielectric Constant

TL;DR

This paper provides experimental evidence of strongly localized photonic modes caused by disorder in a microcavity, extending electron localization theory to optical modes with quantitative agreement.

Contribution

First experimental demonstration of disorder-induced strong localization of photonic modes in a microcavity, supported by an extended theoretical framework.

Findings

Localized photonic modes observed due to dielectric disorder

Quantitative agreement between theory and experiment

Disorder effects linked to quantum dot randomness

Abstract

We present the first experimental evidence for the existence of strongly localized photonic modes due to random two dimensional fluctuations in the dielectric constant. In one direction, the modes are trapped by ordered Bragg reflecting mirrors of a planar, one wavelength long, microcavity. In the cavity plane, they are localized by disorder, which is due to randomness in the position, composition and sizes of quantum dots located in the anti-node of the cavity. We extend the theory of disorder induced strong localization of electron states to optical modes and obtain quantitative agreement with the main experimental observations.