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Photons propagate in photonic crystals in the same way as electrons propagate in solids. The periodical refractive index induces forbidden frequency bands, which nurture a variety of novel integrated devices and several fundamental studies ranging from threshold-less lasers to quantum computing. However, these investigations have to face the unavoidable disorder of real-world structures: if on one hand it largely hampers experiments, on the other hand it opens the possibility to study three-dimensional (3D) photon strong localization. We report on 3D+1 Maxwell–Bloch simulations of light dynamics in inverted opals exhibiting a complete photonic bandgap. We show that the disorder-induced localized states strongly alter the photonic crystal’s response to femtosecond optical pulses, drastically reducing the diffusion constant and trapping light. We find that an optimal amount of randomness favours the strongest localization; correspondingly, self-starting laser processes are mediated by Anderson states that prevail over spatially extended Bloch modes. State-of-the-art simulations of disorder-induced trapping of light in inverted opals provides a basis for a definitive identification, and potential use, of the three-dimensional Anderson localization of light.

Integrating conventional optics into compact nanostructured surfaces is the goal of flat optics. Despite the enormous progress in this technology, there are still critical challenges for real-world applications due to the limited operational efficiency in the visible region, on average lower than 60%, which originates from absorption losses in wavelength-thick (≈ 500 nm) structures. Another issue is the realization of on-demand optical components for controlling vectorial light at visible frequencies simultaneously in both reflection and transmission and with a predetermined wavefront shape. In this work, we developed an inverse design approach that allows the realization of highly efficient (up to 99%) ultrathin (down to 50 nm thick) optics for vectorial light control with broadband input–output responses in the visible and near-IR regions with a desired wavefront shape. The approach leverages suitably engineered semiconductor nanostructures, which behave as a neural network that can approximate a user-defined input–output function. Near-unity performance results from the ultrathin nature of these surfaces, which reduces absorption losses to near-negligible values. Experimentally, we discuss polarizing beam splitters, comparing their performance with the best results obtained from both direct and inverse design techniques, and new flat-optics components represented by dichroic mirrors and the basic unit of a flat-optics display that creates full colours by using only two subpixels, overcoming the limitations of conventional LCD/OLED technologies that require three subpixels for each composite colour. Our devices can be manufactured with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible process, making them scalable for mass production at low cost.

Protecting confidential data is a major worldwide challenge. Classical cryptography is fast and scalable, but is broken by quantum algorithms. Quantum cryptography is unclonable, but requires quantum installations that are more expensive, slower, and less scalable than classical optical networks. Here we show a perfect secrecy cryptography in classical optical channels. The system exploits correlated chaotic wavepackets, which are mixed in inexpensive and CMOS compatible silicon chips. The chips can generate 0.1 Tbit of different keys for every mm of length of the input channel, and require the transmission of an amount of data that can be as small as 1/1000 of the message’s length. We discuss the security of this protocol for an attacker with unlimited technological power, and who can access the system copying any of its part, including the chips. The second law of thermodynamics and the exponential sensitivity of chaos unconditionally protect this scheme against any possible attack. Protecting confidential data through fast and scalable cryptographic techniques remains a challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate a cryptographic system via correlated mixing of chaotic waves in irreversible time-varying silicon chips with key distributions in classical optical channels.

The design of optical resonant systems for controlling light at the nanoscale is an exciting field of research in nanophotonics. While describing the dynamics of few resonances is a relatively well understood problem, controlling the behavior of systems with many overlapping states is considerably more difficult. In this work, we use the theory of generalized operators to formulate an exact form of spatio-temporal coupled mode theory, which retains the simplicity of traditional coupled mode theory developed for optical waveguides. We developed a fast computational method that extracts all the characteristics of optical resonators, including the full density of states, the modes quality factors, and the mode resonances and linewidths, by employing a single first principle simulation. This approach can facilitate the analytical and numerical study of complex dynamics arising from the interactions of many overlapping resonances, defined in ensembles of resonators of any geometrical shape and in materials with arbitrary responses.

Hurricanes, tsunamis, rogue waves and tornadoes are rare natural phenomena that embed an exceptionally large amount of energy, which appears and quickly disappears in a probabilistic fashion. This makes them difficult to predict and hard to generate on demand. Here we demonstrate that we can trigger the onset of rare events akin to rogue waves controllably, and systematically use their generation to break the diffraction limit of light propagation. We illustrate this phenomenon in the case of a random field, where energy oscillates among incoherent degrees of freedom. Despite the low energy carried by each wave, we illustrate how to control a mechanism of spontaneous synchronization, which constructively builds up the spectral energy available in the whole bandwidth of the field into giant structures, whose statistics is predictable. The larger the frequency bandwidth of the random field, the larger the amplitude of rare events that are built up by this mechanism. Our system is composed of an integrated optical resonator, realized on a photonic crystal chip. Through near-field imaging experiments, we record confined rogue waves characterized by a spatial localization of 206 nm and with an ultrashort duration of 163 fs at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. Such localized energy patterns are formed in a deterministic dielectric structure that does not require nonlinear properties. Rogue waves in a sea of photons can localize light beyond the diffraction limit, but their rarity makes them difficult to study. These events can now be controllably triggered in a photonic crystal resonator.

We experimentally investigate the Dicke phase transition in chaotic optical resonators realized with two-dimensional photonics crystals. This setup circumvents the constraints of the system originally investigated by Dicke and allows a detailed study of the various properties of the superradiant transition. Our experimental results, analytical prediction, and numerical modeling based on random-matrix theory demonstrate that the probability density P(Γ) of the resonance widths provides a new criterion to test the occurrence of the Dicke transition.

Chaos is a phenomenon that occurs in many aspects of contemporary science. In classical dynamics, chaos is defined as a hypersensitivity to initial conditions. The presence of chaos is often unwanted, as it introduces unpredictability, which makes it difficult to predict or explain experimental results. Conversely, we demonstrate here how chaos can be used to enhance the ability of an optical resonator to store energy. We combine analytic theory with ab initio simulations and experiments in photonic-crystal resonators to show that a chaotic resonator can store six times more energy than its classical counterpart of the same volume. We explain the observed increase by considering the equipartition of energy among all degrees of freedom of the chaotic resonator (that is, the cavity modes) and discover a convergence of their lifetimes towards a single value. A compelling illustration of the theory is provided by enhanced absorption in deformed polystyrene microspheres. Chaotic resonators constructed from planar silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals and deformed polystyrene microspheres are demonstrated to store up to six times more light energy than their classical, non-chaotic counterparts. This effect is attributed to the modification of the trajectories and lifetimes of photons in the cavity.

Rhythms of life are dictated by oscillations, which take place in a wide rage of biological scales. In bacteria, for example, oscillations have been proven to control many fundamental processes, ranging from gene expression to cell divisions. In genetic circuits, oscillations originate from elemental block such as autorepressors and toggle switches, which produce robust and noise-free cycles with well defined frequency. In some circumstances, the oscillation period of biological functions may double, thus generating bistable behaviors whose ultimate origin is at the basis of intense investigations. Motivated by brain studies, we here study an “elemental” genetic circuit, where a simple nonlinear process interacts with a noisy environment. In the proposed system, nonlinearity naturally arises from the mechanism of cooperative stability, which regulates the concentration of a protein produced during a transcription process. In this elemental model, bistability results from the coherent amplification of environmental fluctuations due to a stochastic resonance of nonlinear origin. This suggests that the period doubling observed in many biological functions might result from the intrinsic interplay between nonlinearity and thermal noise.

The study of efficient mechanisms of photon conversion processes into electronic, thermal and chemical energy is an interdisciplinary research field spanning physics, chemistry and material science. In recent years, different physical mechanisms sustained by the engineering of diverse complex photonic structures have emerged to offer significant advances in the area of thermal energy generation, photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical energy transformation. The efficient behavior of these systems results from the integration, with different levels of complexity, of dielectric and metallic optical nanostructures into hierarchical disordered architectures, which have shown to significantly improve broadband light-harvesting, electronic charges extraction and light energy confinement. The review aims to concisely highlight the most recent progress in this field, with emphasis on discussing the physics and applications of complex lightwave systems for the realization of efficient processes of photon energy harvesting.

By employing a nonlinear quantum kicked rotor model, we investigate the transport of energy in multidimensional quantum chaos. This problem has profound implications in many fields of science ranging from Anderson localization to time reversal of classical and quantum waves. We begin our analysis with a series of parallel numerical simulations, whose results show an unexpected and anomalous behavior. We tackle the problem by a fully analytical approach characterized by Lie groups and solitons theory, demonstrating the existence of a universal, nonlinearly-enhanced diffusion of the energy in the system, which is entirely sustained by soliton waves. Numerical simulations, performed with different models, show a perfect agreement with universal predictions. A realistic experiment is discussed in two dimensional dipolar Bose-Einstein-Condensates (BEC). Besides the obvious implications at the fundamental level, our results show that solitons can form the building block for the realization of new systems for the enhanced transport of matter.