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Photonics

Rogue waves surface in light

How do the freak waves that haunt seafarers' nightmares arise? We don't know, is the short answer — but the discovery of a similar phenomenon in optical waves might assist in getting to the bottom of the mystery.

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Figure 1: Science fact.

NOAA/NWS

Figure 2: Rogue generation.

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Yeom, DI., Eggleton, B. Rogue waves surface in light. Nature 450, 953–954 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/450953a

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