Lévy Statistics and Spin Glass Behavior in Random Lasers

This book could not have been timelier. It describes a multidisciplinary experimental work reported in the literature from 2015 to 2022, supported by a theoretical proposal from 2006, exploiting random lasers and random fiber lasers as a photonic platform to perform statistical physics, as Lévy-like statistics and extreme events, as well as complex systems, including turbulence, replica symmetry breaking (RSB) and Floquet states. Most of the theoretical grounds for these subjects date back to the 1970s. Of particular relevance for the timing for this book is the fact that two of the Nobel Prize winners of 2021 have their work connected through the experimental and theoretical work exploiting random lasers. In fact, the very first demonstration of RSB, a theory proposed by Giorgio Parisi, one of the 2021 Nobel winners, was first experimentally demonstrated in 2015 using random lasers.

The scope of the book relies on the description of the already vast literature starting in 2006, but with an experimental explosion since 2015. The book describes the basis of random lasers and random fibers, theoretical background and connection between magnetism and photonics related to RSB, and theoretical backgrounds for experiments in Lévy statistics, turbulence, and Floquet states. The contributors are from three of the groups with most contributions in the field.

Anderson S. L. Gomes is professor of physics at Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Brazil. He obtained his PhD in physics from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (1986) and completed his postdoc atBrown University (1992). His research interests are in nonlinear optics, nanophotonics and biophotonics. He has co-authored more than 300 scientific publications, is a Fellow of OPTICA, and is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit.

André L. Moura received his BSc in physics (2006), master’s (2009) and doctor of science (2013) from the Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil. Since 2009, he is professor at Federal University of Alagoas. His main research areas are nonlinear optics, spectroscopy of materials doped with trivalent rare-earth ions, and lasers and random lasers.

Cid B. de Araújo is emeritus professor at UFPE. He received his doctorate in physics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, World Academy of Sciences, and Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit and an OSA fellow. His research interests are in nonlinear optics and photonics.

Ernesto P. Raposo is full professor in the Department of Physics, UFPE. He received his PhD in physics from UFPE (1996) and was a postdoc at Harvard University (1998). His research interests include statistics physics, random searches, and random lasers.