Complex optical phenomena

When more is different: the section explores how scaling optical systems to many elements introduces fundamental new properties

Engineering Light with Photonic Lattices

Just as materials exhibit diverse properties due to the varying lattice potentials they impose on electrons hopping between atoms, photonic lattices similarly alter the properties of light propagating within them. In fact, we can even conceive of a "periodic table" for these photonic structures. My research explores how we can create multi-element photonic structures (or lattices) that enable novel methods for controlling light.

Synthetic dimensions

Typically, optical lattices are understood as spatial arrangements of "sites" which photons hop in between. However, recent developments demonstrate that these site patterns can also exist in non-spatial dimensions, such as the frequency, momentum, or polarization dimensions, among others. This innovation allows for the creation of high-dimensional (4D and 5D) materials, as well as enabling long-range interactions and a wealth of novel phenomena.

Recent work

We demonstrated non-abelian lattice gauge fields in photonics. D. Cheng, et al, Nature (2025). 

We showed how to resolve the energy-band structure of high-dimensional optical systems. D. Cheng, et al, Light Sci Appl (2023). 

We experimentally demonstrated 3D optical lattices in which a dislocation gives rise to light propagating in scatter-immune states along the dislocation. E. Lustig*, L.J. Maczewsky*, et al. Nature (2022). In the press (phys.org)

For more information on synthetic dimensions, see our latest review article: E. Lustig and M. Segev, Adv. Opt. Photon.(2021)