Glassy behavior of light
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
2007-05-23 v1 Statistical Mechanics
Optics
Abstract
We study the nonlinear dynamics of a multi-mode random laser using the methods of statistical physics of disordered systems. A replica-symmetry breaking phase transition is predicted as a function of the pump intensity. We thus show that light propagating in a random non-linear medium displays glassy behavior, i.e. the photon gas has a multitude of metastable states and a non vanishing complexity, corresponding to mode-locking processes in random lasers. The present work reveals the existence of new physical phenomena, and demonstrates how nonlinear optics and random lasers can be a benchmark for the modern theory of complex systems and glasses.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0511427,
title = {Glassy behavior of light},
author = {L. Angelani and C. Conti and G. Ruocco and F. Zamponi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0511427},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
5 pages, 1 figure