Photonic Mpemba effect

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the occurrence of the Mpemba effect in optical systems, showing that certain localized light states can relax faster than delocalized ones in photonic lattices, with potential experimental realization.

Contribution

It introduces the Mpemba effect in optics, specifically in light diffusion within photonic lattices, a novel phenomenon in this domain.

Findings

Localized light distributions can diffuse faster than delocalized ones.

The effect is demonstrated through random walk models in fiber-based photonic lattices.

Potential for experimental observation in optical setups.

Abstract

The Mpemba effect is the counterintuitive phenomenon in statistical physics for which a far-from-equilibrium state can relax toward equilibrium faster than a state closer to equilibrium. This effect has raised a great curiosity since long time and has been studied extensively in many classical and quantum systems. Here it is shown that the Mpemba effect can be observed in optics as well. Specifically, the process of light diffusion in finite-sized photonic lattices under incoherent (dephasing) dynamics is considered. Rather surprisingly, it is shown that certain highly-localized initial light distributions can diffuse faster than initial broadly delocalized distributions. The effect is illustrated by considering random walk of optical pulses in fiber-based temporal mesh lattices, which should provide an experimentally-accessible setup for the demonstration of the Mpemba effect in optics.