Localization of Light

MAY 01, 1991

Light in certain dielectric microstructures exhibits localized modes, similar to the localized wavefunctions of electrons in disordered solids. These microstructures show new effects in both classical optics and quantum electrodynamics.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881300

Sajeev John

Since the beginning of scientific inquiry the nature of light has played a vital role in our understanding of the physical world. Physicists have marveled at the dual nature of light as both corpuscle and wave; we have harnessed the remarkable coherent properties of light through the use of lasers; and the quantum mechanics of the interaction of photons with matter continue to provide fascinating avenues of basic research. In essence, any alteration of electromagnetism, the fundamental interaction overning atomic, molecular and condensed matter physics, will lead to fundamentally new phenomena in all these areas.

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More about the authors

Sajeev John, University of Toronto.