Discrete, Nonlinear and Disordered Optics

Workshop Report

The MPI-PKS workshop “Discrete, Nonlinear and Disordered Optics” (DINDOS17) was held from 8 - 12 May 2017. The aim of the workshop was to present the latest experimental and theoretical results in the fast developing field of discrete nonlinear and disordered optical systems. The recent merging of nonlinear photonics and disordered system physics promises a considerable impact on various disciplines in science, from physics to biology and chemistry. Nonlinear disordered optical systems offer new platform for numerous engineering applications: random lasers for imaging, random fibre lasers for material processing, ranging, metrology and telecommunications, disordered fibre gratings for various applications (ultra-broadband or very narrow filtering) and other applications. The workshop brought together 60 leading experts and students from the fields of photonic lattices, disordered systems, nonlinear photonics, meta-surfaces, random laser science and discrete systems to timely discuss recent progress and interdisciplinary synergy emerging at the interface of these fields, and gave an overview to young scientists of exciting possibilities of interdisciplinary research in these fields with the special focus on the practical applications of fundamental science. The talks and poster contributions mainly followed the main themes:

 

  • Photonic simulators of quantum physics

  • Disordered quantum physics

  • Synthetic photonic lattices

  • Nonlinear photonics

  • Disordered photonics

  • Meta-surfaces

  • Random lasers

  • Discrete optical systems

 

We were in particular delighted to welcome Prof. Nader Engheta, Prof. Immanuel Bloch and Prof. Federico Capasso as planary speakers.


The talks were well attended and discussions to these topics were very lively. Extended lunch and coffee breaks were useful as they led to many stimulating discussions between the participants. Also, the poster sessions, which gave in particularly young researchers the chance to present their results, were well attended and discussion in front of the posters lasted until late in the night.