Arthur Goetschy

Coherent control of total transmission of light through disordered media.

We used wavefront shaping to enhance/suppress the transmission of coherent light through open highly scattering media. The total transmission was varied by one order of magnitude as a result of mesoscopic correlations of coherent transport.

Filtering random matrices: the effect of incomplete channel control in multiple scattering.

We present an analytic random matrix theory for the effect of incomplete channel control on the measured statistical properties of the scattering matrix of a disordered multiple-scattering medium. When the fraction of the controlled input channels, m1, and output channels, m2, is decreased from unity, the density of the transmission eigenvalues is shown to evolve from the bimodal distribution describing coherent diffusion, to the distribution characteristic of uncorrelated Gaussian random matrices, with a rapid loss of access to the open eigenchannels. The loss of correlation is also reflected in an increase in the information capacity per channel of the medium. Our results have strong implications for optical and microwave experiments on diffusive scattering media.

Eigenvalue distributions of large Euclidean random matrices for waves in random media

We study probability distributions of eigenvalues of Hermitian and non-Hermitian Euclidean random matrices that are typically encountered in the problems of wave propagation in random media.

Non-Hermitian Euclidean random matrix theory

We develop a theory for the eigenvalue density of arbitrary non-Hermitian Euclidean matrices. Closed equations for the resolvent and the eigenvector correlator are derived. The theory is applied to the random Greens matrix relevant to wave propagation in an ensemble of pointlike scattering centers. This opens a new perspective in the study of wave diffusion, Anderson localization, and random lasing.

Euclidean matrix theory of random lasing in a cloud of cold atoms

We develop an ab initio analytic theory of random lasing in an ensemble of atoms that both scatter and amplify light. The theory applies all the way from low to high density of atoms. The properties of the random laser are controlled by an Euclidean matrix with elements equal to the Greens function of the Helmholtz equation between pairs of atoms in the system. Lasing threshold and the intensity of laser emission are calculated in the semiclassical approximation. The results are compared to the outcome of the diffusion theory of random lasing.

Towards a random laser with cold atoms

Atoms can scatter light and they can also amplify it by stimulated emission. From this simple starting point, we examine the possibility of realizing a random laser in a cloud of laser-cooled atoms. The answer is not obvious as both processes (elastic scattering and stimulated emission) seem to exclude one another: pumping atoms to make them behave as amplifier reduces drastically their scattering cross-section. However, we show that even the simplest atom model allows the efficient combination of gain and scattering. Moreover, supplementary degrees of freedom that atoms offer allow the use of several gain mechanisms, depending on the pumping scheme. We thus first study these different gain mechanisms and show experimentally that they can induce (standard) lasing. We then present how the constraint of combining scattering and gain can be quantified, which leads to an evaluation of the random laser threshold. The results are promising and we draw some prospects for a practical realization of a random laser with cold atoms.

Light-mediated cascaded locking of Multiple nano-optomechanical oscillators

Collective phenomena emerging from nonlinear interactions between multiple oscillators, such as synchronization and frequency locking, find applications in a wide variety of fields. Optomechanical resonators, which are intrinsically nonlinear, combine the scientific assets of mechanical devices with the possibility of long distance controlled interactions enabled by traveling light. Here we demonstrate light-mediated frequency locking of three distant nano-optomechanical oscillators positioned in a cascaded configuration. The oscillators, integrated on a chip along a common coupling waveguide, are optically driven with a single laser and oscillate at gigahertz frequency. Despite an initial mechanical frequency disorder of hundreds of kilohertz, the guided light locks them all with a clear transition in the optical output. The experimental results are described by Langevin equations, paving the way to scalable cascaded optomechanical configurations.

Correlation-enhanced control of wave focusing in disordered media

Controlled wave propagation in disordered media is a challenge because of scattering processes. Now it is shown that for speckled targets much larger than the wavelength, long-range correlations between the speckles enhance wave propagation control.

Coherent Control of Photocurrent in a Strongly Scattering Photoelectrochemical System

A fundamental issue that limits the efficiency of many photoelectrochemical systems is that the photon absorption length is typically much longer than the electron diffusion length. Various photon management schemes have been developed to enhance light absorption; one simple approach is to use randomly scattering media to enable broadband and wide-angle enhancement. However, such systems are often opaque, making it difficult to probe photoinduced processes. Here we use wave interference effects to modify the spatial distribution of light inside a highly scattering dye-sensitized solar cell to control photon absorption in a space-dependent manner. By shaping the incident wavefront of a laser beam, we enhance or suppress photocurrent by increasing or decreasing light concentration on the front side of the mesoporous photoanode where the collection efficiency of photoelectrons is maximal. Enhanced light absorption is achieved by reducing reflection through the open boundary of the photoanode via destructive ...

Broadband Coherent Enhancement of Transmission and Absorption in Disordered Media

Spatial modulation of the incident wave front has become a powerful method for controlling the diffusive transport of light in disordered media; however, such interference-based control is intrinsically sensitive to frequency detuning. Here, we show analytically and numerically that certain wave fronts can exhibit strongly enhanced total transmission or absorption across bandwidths that are orders of magnitude broader than the spectral correlation width of the speckles. Such broadband enhancement is possible due to long-range correlations in coherent diffusion, which cause the spectral degrees of freedom to scale as the square root of the bandwidth rather than the bandwidth itself.