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Photonics

Frozen light

Nature volume 390, pages 661–662 (1997)Cite this article

Electromagnetism is the fundamental mediator of all interactions in atomic physics and condensed-matter physics — in other words, the force that governs the structure of ordinary matter. It is rare to see an entirely new electromagnetic phenomenon, but Diederik Wiersma and colleagues report one on page 671 of this issue1. In carefully prepared semiconductor powders, Wiersma et al. have shown that light can be forced to stand still through the process of multiple scattering and wave interference. This experiment will lead to applications in optical data processing, spectroscopy and laser physics.

Our understanding and manipulation of electromagnetic waves has a long and rich history. The propagation of electromagnetic waves was predicted by James Clerk Maxwell in the nineteenth century, and Maxwell's equations are one of the pillars of modern physics. But the localization of light waves was predicted2,3,4 only in the 1980s, and confirmatory experiments (first in the microwave spectrum5,6, and now in the near-visible spectrum1) are milestones in our endeavour to create materials that mould the flow of light.

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Figure 1: A phase transition in light waves, from classical diffusion to localization.

References

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  1. the Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A7, Ontario, Canada

    Sajeev John

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  1. Sajeev John
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John, S. Frozen light. Nature 390, 661–662 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/37731

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