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Photonics

Anti-laser shows how to make waves behave

Nature Physics (2023)Cite this article

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A decade ago, the anti-laser made waves as a new type of perfect absorber that functions as a one-way trap door for light. Experiments have now demonstrated the control of light without absorbing it.

Controlling wave propagation in artificial structures, particularly avoiding reflected waves at interfaces at the surface or within the structure, is a challenging but important task. Such reflections reduce the energy and degrade the information in the transmitted waves; moreover, waves reflected backwards can have serious damaging effects. Some form of impedance-matching to the structure is required to avoid reflections. However, there was no theoretical framework to decide if and when reflections can be avoided in a complex geometry, in which waves bounce around many times before being reflected or transmitted. Recently, a theory of reflectionless scattering modes has filled this gap1,2. Reporting in Nature Physics, Xuefeng Jiang and co-workers have now tested — and verified — this theory experimentally for light propagating in a chaotic cavity3.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of a chaotic stadium cavity.

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  1. Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    A. Douglas Stone

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  1. A. Douglas Stone
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Correspondence to A. Douglas Stone.

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Stone, A.D. Anti-laser shows how to make waves behave. Nat. Phys. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02252-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02252-8

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