IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-023-44500-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Electrical tuning of branched flow of light

Author

Listed:
  • Shan-shan Chang

    (Xiamen University)

  • Ke-Hui Wu

    (Xiamen University)

  • Si-jia Liu

    (Nanjing University)

  • Zhi-Kang Lin

    (Soochow University)

  • Jin-bing Wu

    (Nanjing University)

  • Shi-jun Ge

    (Nanjing University)

  • Lu-Jian Chen

    (Xiamen University)

  • Peng Chen

    (Nanjing University)

  • Wei Hu

    (Nanjing University)

  • Yadong Xu

    (Soochow University)

  • Huanyang Chen

    (Xiamen University)

  • Dahai He

    (Xiamen University)

  • Da-Quan Yang

    (Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications)

  • Jian-Hua Jiang

    (Soochow University
    University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Yan-qing Lu

    (Nanjing University)

  • Jin-hui Chen

    (Xiamen University
    Innovation Laboratory for Sciences and Technologies of Energy Materials of Fujian Province (IKKEM))

Abstract

Branched flows occur ubiquitously in various wave systems, when the propagating waves encounter weak correlated scattering potentials. Here we report the experimental realization of electrical tuning of the branched flow of light using a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) system. We create the physical realization of the weakly correlated disordered potentials of light via the inhomogeneous orientations of the NLC. We demonstrate that the branched flow of light can be switched on and off as well as tuned continuously through the electro-optical properties of NLC film. We further show that the branched flow can be manipulated by the polarization of the incident light due to the optical anisotropy of the NLC film. The nature of the branched flow of light is revealed via the unconventional intensity statistics and the rapid fidelity decay along the light propagation. Our study unveils an excellent platform for the tuning of the branched flow of light which creates a testbed for fundamental physics and offers a new way for steering light.

Suggested Citation

  • Shan-shan Chang & Ke-Hui Wu & Si-jia Liu & Zhi-Kang Lin & Jin-bing Wu & Shi-jun Ge & Lu-Jian Chen & Peng Chen & Wei Hu & Yadong Xu & Huanyang Chen & Dahai He & Da-Quan Yang & Jian-Hua Jiang & Yan-qing, 2024. "Electrical tuning of branched flow of light," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-44500-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44500-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44500-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-44500-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marco Peccianti & Claudio Conti & Gaetano Assanto & Antonio De Luca & Cesare Umeton, 2004. "Routing of anisotropic spatial solitons and modulational instability in liquid crystals," Nature, Nature, vol. 432(7018), pages 733-737, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manoj Mishra & Kirti Meena & Divya Yadav & Brajraj Singh & Soumendu Jana, 2023. "The dynamics, stability and modulation instability of Gaussian beams in nonlocal nonlinear media," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 96(8), pages 1-13, August.
    2. Ke-Hui Wu & Li-Ting Zhu & Fang-Fang Xiao & Xuejia Hu & Sen-Sen Li & Lu-Jian Chen, 2024. "Light-regulated soliton dynamics in liquid crystals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-44500-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.