Anderson localisation of visible light on a nanophotonic chip

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the successful localization of visible light on a nanophotonic chip using disorder-induced effects, achieving high quality factors and visualizing localized modes, indicating potential for scalable optical devices.

Contribution

It presents the first demonstration of Anderson localization of visible light on a chip with high quality factors and direct imaging of localized modes, surpassing previous disorder-induced confinement performance.

Findings

Achieved high quality factors exceeding engineered cavities.

Visualized and mapped localized light modes on the chip.

Proved potential for scalable, room-temperature optical devices.

Abstract

We demonstrate Anderson localisation of visible light on a chip and report quality factors exceeding highly engineered two-dimensional cavities. Our results reverse the trend, observed so far, of the quality of disorder-induced light confinement being orders of magnitude lower than engineered devices. Furthermore, by implementing a sensitive imaging technique, we directly visualise the localised modes, determine their position on the device and measure their spatial extension. Our findings prove the potential of disorder-induced localised light for scalable, room temperature, optical devices, operating in the visible range of wavelengths.