http://www.isc.cnr.it/comma07
Sponsors: IUPAP, ISC-CNR Rome (Italy) , LENS Florence (Italy)
Purpose of the course
It is well known that self-organized spatio-temporal structures (patterns) may arise from the competition between local nonlinear dynamics and diffusive/diffractive processes. The onset of localized structures is both a beautiful example for understanding how the two mechanisms operate together and a challenge towards the development of new techniques for information manipulation. The underlying physics becomes even more interesting at smaller spatial scales when dielectric functions show spatial variations roughly of the order of light wavelength, giving rise to mesoscopic optical superstructures.
It was recently pointed out that photonic crystals , with strong dielectric contrast, can be considered a prototype of systems where electromagnetic wave propagation undergoes a transition from regular (low energy dispersion curves) to chaotic behaviour (Lorentz gas) by reaching the classical limit (high energy dispersion curves). In systems with partial disorder, on the other hand, the interplay between diffusion and the reduced density of states of a periodic system can lead to fascinating transport phenomena, like anomalous diffusion and Anderson localization. These examples show that optics in mesoscopic systems is a very promising field of research regarding the science of complexity.
The aim of the Meeting is to bring together a number of established scientists, coming from different scientific area (engineering, physics, chemistry, mathematics,.), in order to discuss theoretical and experimental aspects of Statistical and Complex Optics in Material Science.
