3D Anderson localization of light in disordered systems of dielectric particles
Abstract
We investigate light transport in three-dimensional disordered media composed of irregular dielectric particles using large scale full-wave simulations. For subwavelength particles with size parameter and high refractive index contrast, we observe a transition from diffusion to a regime characterized by non-exponential decay of time-resolved transmission as disorder increases. The corresponding time-dependent diffusion coefficient decreases with time and approaches a scaling at long times. This dynamical slowdown is accompanied by the emergence of spectrally isolated transmission resonances with Thouless conductance below unity, indicating the dominance of long-lived modes with weak spectral overlap. The late time near-field maps reveal evolving, non-propagating clusters of intensity hotspots. Together, the transport, spectral, and near-field signatures provide consistent numerical evidence for Anderson localization of light in three-dimensional disordered dielectric media.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2312.14393,
title = {3D Anderson localization of light in disordered systems of dielectric particles},
author = {Yevgen Grynko and Dustin Siebert and Jan Sperling and Jens Förstner},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.14393},
year = {2026}
}