Diederik Wiersma
European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, University of Florence, Italy
Diederik Wiersma (left) with Christof Aegerter
Date
12 November 2014
Host
Christof Aegerter
Title
Disordered photonics
Abstract
What do lotus flowers have in common with human bones, liquid crystals with colloidal suspensions, and white beetles with the beautiful stones of the Taj Mahal? The answer is that they all feature disordered structures which strongly scatter light: light waves that enter the material are scattered several times before exiting in random directions. In this seminar I will discuss the rich fundamental physics of light propagation in disordered systems as well as applications of disordered photonics in imaging, light sources, and solar energy.