Coexistence of turbulence-like and glassy behaviours in a photonic system

Abstract

Coexistence of physical phenomena can occur in quite unexpected ways. Here we demonstrate the first evidence in any physical system of the coexistence in the same set of measurements of two of the most challenging phenomena in complex systems: turbulence and spin glasses. We employ a quasi-one-dimensional random fibre laser, which displays all essential ingredients underlying both behaviours, namely disorder, frustration and nonlinearity, as well as turbulent energy cascades and intermittent energy flux between fluctuation scales. Our extensive experimental results are theoretically supported by a newly defined photonic Pearson correlation coefficient that unveils the role of the intermittency and describes remarkably well both the spin-glass Parisi overlap parameter and the distribution of turbulent-like intensity increments. Our findings open the way to unravel subtle connections with other complex phenomena, such as disordered nonlinear wave propagation, Lévy statistics of intensity fluctuations, and rogue waves.

Turbulent Intermittency in a Random Fiber Laser

“…It is noticeable that the intensity fluctuations below and above the threshold behave quite differently from those around the threshold. In particular, the special value P/P th = 2.92 was chosen for the analysis in this work, since in this regime the RFL system presents the coexistence of photonic turbulent and spin glass behaviors [8,14]. [11,12].…”

Simultaneous evaluation of intermittency effects, replica symmetry breaking and modes dynamics correlations in a Nd:YAG random laser

“…The intermittency effects and RSB phenomenon can be analyzed jointly by defining another modified Pearson coefficient 50 which is simultaneously sensitive to both photonic glassy and turbulent-like behaviors, …”

“…Another striking complex feature recently demonstrated 49 in a random fiber laser is the turbulent-like behavior of RL emission. In this context, we have shown 50 that a modified Pearson measure can account simultaneously for the coexistence of turbulence-like and RSB glassy behaviors in a random fiber laser.…”

Letter to the editor: The 2021 Physics Nobel Prize and the understanding of complex physical systems

“…The works in Recife constitute important demonstrations of photonic phase transitions that verify the RSB SG theory. Indeed, the articles [16], [17], and [18] were referred in the Report of the Nobel Committee [1] as references [34], [33] and [74], respectively.…”