Levi glass

Year: 2015

Authors: Wiersma D.S.

Autors Affiliation: iv Florence, INO CNR, European Lab Nonlinear Spect LENS, Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy.

Abstract: Levy glass is a new material which is obtained by assembly of scattering elements. The result is a bulk material which has different degrees of elasticity (from rigid as window glass to flexible as certain plastics) and which can be shaped into any desired form. In particular, Levy glasses have special optical properties not present in other materials. The name Levy glass is based on the fact that under certain conditions light waves perform a Levy walk inside these materials and the resulting optical transport is superdiffusive. From a structural point of view a Levy glass is a random fractal. We will review the optical and structural properties of Levy glasses, their design criteria, as well as their experimental realization. Also we will go into various fundamental aspects of Levy-type light transport, discussing both superdiffusion as well as interference effects like weak and strong localization.

Journal/Review: RIVISTA DEL NUOVO CIMENTO

Volume: 38 (6)      Pages from: 271  to: 310

More Information: I would like to acknowledge the significant input by Romolo Savo, Jacopo Bertolotti and Kevin Vynck on the various projects over the years on Levy glasses, and inspiring discussions with Stefano Lepri, Roberto Livi, Rafaella Burioni, Alessandro Vezzani, and the entire group Optics of Complex Systems at LENS. This work was supported by the European Network of Excellence Nanophotonics for Energy Efficiency and by the European Research Council under the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement n. [291349]. I thank Oscar, Selly, and Tea-biscuit for their continuous support.
KeyWords: Coherent Backscattering; Weak-localization; Disordered Media; Anomalous Diffusion; Light-scattering; Multiple-scattering; Random-walk; Fractional Dynamics; Photonic Crystals; Liquid-crystals
DOI: 10.1393/ncr/i2015-10113-1

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