近日，美国密苏里科技大学的Alexey Yamilov与威斯康星大学的Zongfu Yu以及耶鲁大学的Hui Cao等人合作，并取得一项新进展。经过不懈努力，他们探究了三维中电磁波的安德森局域化现象。相关研究成果已于2023年6月15日在国际知名学术期刊《自然—物理学》上发表。

该研究团队通过数值模拟揭示金属球簇中三维电磁波的局域化现象，与折射率最高可达10的介电球在空气中不发生局域化形成鲜明对比。这一研究为安德森局域化的基础研究和三维局域化光的潜在应用提供了新的可能性。关于光在三维空间中是否能够实现安德森局域化的问题一直存在争议。最新的数值计算结果表明，通过金属球的随机排列可以实现光的三维局域化，而使用介电球则无法实现这一效应。

据悉，安德森局域化是指在无序系统中扩散波传播被阻止的现象。尽管在过去40年间进行了广泛研究，但在三维空间中的光的安德森局域化一直是一个难以解决的问题，对其是否存在仍有质疑。最近的进展大大提高了有限差分时域计算的速度，使得人们能够进行强大的数值模拟，研究具有前所未有的维度和折射率差异的完全无序三维系统中的光传输。

附：英文原文

Title: Anderson localization of electromagnetic waves in three dimensions

Author: Yamilov, Alexey, Skipetrov, Sergey E., Hughes, Tyler W., Minkov, Momchil, Yu, Zongfu, Cao, Hui

Issue&Volume: 2023-06-15

Abstract: Anderson localization is a halt of diffusive wave propagation in disordered systems. Despite extensive studies over the past 40 years, Anderson localization of light in three dimensions has remained elusive, leading to the question of its very existence. Recent advances have enabled finite-difference time-domain calculations to be sped up by orders of magnitude, allowing us to conduct brute-force numerical simulations of light transport in fully disordered three-dimensional systems with unprecedented dimension and refractive index difference. We show numerically three-dimensional localization of vector electromagnetic waves in random aggregates of overlapping metallic spheres, in sharp contrast to the absence of localization for dielectric spheres with a refractive index up to 10 in air. Our work opens a wide range of avenues in both fundamental research related to Anderson localization and potential applications using three-dimensional localized light. Whether Anderson localization of light can be achieved in three dimensions has remained an open question. Numerical calculations now show that it is possible with a random arrangement of metallic spheres, but not with dielectric ones.

DOI: 10.1038/s41567-023-02091-7

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-023-02091-7