Anderson localization of circularly polarized waves in a gyrotropic superlattice with correlated disorder

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the transmission of circularly polarized electromagnetic waves through one-dimensional random periodic-on-average photonic crystals containing layers of magneto-optical material in Faraday geometry. Driven by evidence that long-range correlations crucially influence wave localization within certain spectral ranges, our study aims to harness these effects for the development of novel electromagnetic wave filters tunable via a dc magnetic field. We base our study on a model of light propagation through a finite array of alternating dielectric layers with random thickness variations and layers of gyrotropic material of equal thickness. Assuming weak positional disorder, we employ analytical and numerical methods to analyze the inverse localization length and assess filter performance. Our results demonstrate that specific correlated disorder introduced into periodic systems can enhance or suppress the transmissivity for a wave of a given frequency in any desired interval of the magneto-optical parameter q. Additionally, we show that the Anderson localization can be resonantly suppressed when the thickness of each gyrotropic layer accommodates an integer number of half-wavelengths.