Neda Ghofraniha

Shocks in nonlocal media

We investigate the formation of collisionless shocks along the spatial profile of a Gaussian laser beam propagating in nonlocal nonlinear media. For defocusing nonlinearity the shock survives the smoothing effect of the nonlocal response, though its dynamics is qualitatively affected by the latter, whereas for focusing nonlinearity it dominates over filamentation. The patterns observed in a thermal defocusing medium are interpreted in the framework of our theory.

Experimental evidence of replica symmetry breaking in random lasers

Spin-glass theory is one of the leading paradigms of complex physics and describes condensed matter, neural networks and biological systems, ultracold atoms, random photonics and many other research fields. According to this theory, identical systems under identical conditions may reach different states. This effect is known as replica symmetry breaking and is revealed by the shape of the probability distribution function of an order parameter named the Parisi overlap. However, a direct experimental evidence in any field of research is still missing. Here we investigate pulse-to-pulse fluctuations in random lasers, we introduce and measure the analogue of the Parisi overlap in independent experimental realizations of the same disordered sample, and we find that the distribution function yields evidence of a transition to a glassy light phase compatible with a replica symmetry breaking.

Routes to colloidal gel formation

We discuss features of simple inter-particle potentials which are able to generate low-packing fraction arrested states, i.e. gels, in the absence of a macroscopic phase separation phenomenon. We suggest that the ratio between surface and bulk free energy is crucial in favoring ideal gel states. Two possible models for gels, one based on the competition of short range attraction and long range repulsions and the other on local constraints disfavoring packed local structures are discussed.

Shock Waves in Disordered Media

We experimentally investigate the interplay between spatial shock waves and the degree of disorder during nonlinear optical propagation in a thermal defocusing medium. We characterize the way the shock point is affected by the amount of disorder and scales with wave amplitude. Evidence for the existence of a phase diagram in terms of nonlinearity and amount of randomness is reported. The results are in quantitative agreement with a theoretical approach based on the hydrodynamic approximation.

Random laser emission from a paper-based device

Random laser emission is obtained from a fluidic paper-based device realized by conventional soft-lithography techniques on common, flexible, renewable and biocompatible commercial paper. The device is realized exclusively on paper by creating microfluidic porous channels on the cellulose fibres, in which a laser dye (Rhodamine B) can flow by capillarity. The modulation of the random lasing characteristics, in terms of threshold and spectral position, can be tailored by acting on the confinement induced by the lithographic process as well as on the shape and functionalization at the interface of the emitting regions.

Structure of nanoparticles embedded in micellar polycrystals.

We investigate by scattering techniques the structure of water-based soft composite materials comprising a crystal made of Pluronic block-copolymer micelles arranged in a face-centered cubic lattice and a small amount (at most 2% by volume) of silica nanoparticles, of size comparable to that of the micelles. The copolymer is thermosensitive: it is hydrophilic and fully dissolved in water at low temperature (T ~ 0 °C), and self-assembles into micelles at room temperature, where the block-copolymer is amphiphilic. We use contrast matching small-angle neuron scattering experiments to independently probe the structure of the nanoparticles and that of the polymer. We find that the nanoparticles do not perturb the crystalline order. In addition, a structure peak is measured for the silica nanoparticles dispersed in the polycrystalline samples. This implies that the samples are spatially heterogeneous and comprise, without macroscopic phase separation, silica-poor and silica-rich regions. We show that the nanoparticle concentration in the silica-rich regions is about 10-fold the average concentration. These regions are grain boundaries between crystallites, where nanoparticles concentrate, as shown by static light scattering and by light microscopy imaging of the samples. We show that the temperature rate at which the sample is prepared strongly influence the segregation of the nanoparticles in the grain-boundaries.

Laser Beam Filamentation in Fractal Aggregates

We investigate filamentation of a cw laser beam in soft matter such as colloidal suspensions and fractal gels. The process, driven by electrostriction, is strongly affected by material properties, which are taken into account via the static structure factor, and have impact on the statistics of the light filaments.

Measurement of scaling laws for shock waves in thermal nonlocal media

We are able to detect the details of spatial optical collisionless wave breaking through the high aperture imaging of a beam suffering shock in a fluorescent nonlinear nonlocal thermal medium. This allows us to directly measure how nonlocality and nonlinearity affect the point of shock formation and compare results with numerical simulations.

Time-resolved dynamics of granular matter by random laser emission

Because of the huge commercial importance of granular systems, the second-most used material in industry after water, intersecting the industry in multiple trades, like pharmacy and agriculture, fundamental research on grain-like materials has received an increasing amount of attention in the last decades. In photonics, the applications of granular materials have been only marginally investigated. We report the first phase-diagram of a granular as obtained by laser emission. The dynamics of vertically-oscillated granular in a liquid solution in a three-dimensional container is investigated by employing its random laser emission. The granular motion is function of the frequency and amplitude of the mechanical solicitation, we show how the laser emission allows to distinguish two phases in the granular and analyze its spectral distribution. This constitutes a fundamental step in the field of granulars and gives a clear evidence of the possible control on light-matter interaction achievable in grain-like system.

Time-dependent nonlinear optical susceptibility of an out-of-equilibrium soft material.

We investigate the time-dependent nonlinear optical absorption of a clay dispersion (Laponite) in an organic dye (rhodamine B) water solution displaying liquid-arrested state transition. Specifically, we determine the characteristic time tauD of the nonlinear susceptibility buildup due to the Soret effect. By comparing tauD with the relaxation time provided by standard dynamic light scattering measurements we report on the decoupling of the two collective diffusion times at the two very different length scales during the aging of the out-of-equilibrium system. With this demonstration experiment we also show the potentiality of nonlinear optics measurements in the study of the late stage of arrest in soft materials.