Fundamental bounds of wavefront shaping of spatially entangled photons Shekel, R., S. M. Popoff, and Y. Bromberg APL Photonics 10, no. 11, 110801 (2025)
Résumé: Wavefront shaping enables control of classical light through scattering media. Extending these techniques to spatially entangled photons promises new quantum applications, but their fundamental limits, especially when both photons scatter, remain unclear. Here, we theoretically and numerically investigate the enhancement of two-photon correlations in two specific output modes through thick scattering media. We analyze three configurations: shaping one photon after the medium, shaping both photons before the medium, and shaping both photons after the medium. We show that each configuration yields fundamentally different enhancements compared to classical expectations. For a system with N modes, we show that shaping one photon yields the classical enhancement η ≈ (π/4)N, while shaping both photons before the medium reduces it to η ≈ (π/4)2N. However, in some symmetric detection schemes, when both photons are measured at the same mode, perfect correlations are restored with η ≈ N, resembling digital optical phase conjugation. Conversely, shaping both photons after the medium leads to a complex, NP-hard-like optimization problem, yet achieves superior enhancements, up to η ≈ 4.6N. These results reveal unique quantum effects in complex media and identify strategies for quantum imaging and communication through scattering environments.
Mots-clés: entangled photons; wavefront shaping; focusing; complex media; multimode fiber; scattering media
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Open Transmission Channels in Multimode Fiber Cavities with Random Mode Mixing Pelc, G., S. Guterman, R. Gutiérrez-Cuevas, A. Goetschy, S. M. Popoff, and Y. Bromberg Physical Review Letters 135, no. 17, 173801 (2025)
Résumé: The transport of light in disordered media is governed by open transmission channels, which enable nearly complete transmission of the incident power, despite low average transmission. Extensively studied in diffusive media and chaotic cavities, open channels exhibit unique properties such as universal spatial structure and extended dwell times. However, their experimental study is challenging due to the large number of modes required for control and measurement. We propose a multimode fiber cavity (MMFC) as a platform to explore open channels. Leveraging mode confinement and finite angular spread, MMFCs enable a full control over all channels. This allowed us to achieve an 18-fold power enhancement by selectively exciting an open channel with a transmission rate of 0.90+/-0.04. By analyzing 100 transmission matrices of MMFC realizations, we observed a bimodal transmission eigenvalue distribution, indicating high channel control and low losses. The scalability of MMFCs, combined with long dwell times and potential for nonlinear phenomena, offers new opportunities for studying complex wave transport.
Mots-clés: wavefront shaping; transmission matrix; multimode fiber; bimodal distribution; total transmission
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Localization structure of electronic states in the quantum Hall effect Seye, A., and M. Filoche Physical Review B 112, no. 14 (2025)
Résumé: We investigate the localization of electronic states in the integer quantum Hall effect using a magnetic localization landscape (MLL) approach. By studying a continuum Schrödinger model with disordered electrostatic potential, we demonstrate that the MLL, defined via a modified landscape function incorporating magnetic effects, captures key features of quantum state localization. The MLL effective potential reveals the spatial confinement regions and provides predictions of eigenstate energies, particularly in regimes where traditional semiclassical approximations break down. Numerical simulations show that below a critical energy, states localize around minima of the effective potential, while above it they cluster around maxima—with edge effects becoming significant near boundaries. Bridging the gap between semiclassical intuition and full quantum models, the MLL offers a robust framework to understand transport and localization in disordered quantum Hall systems and extends the applicability of landscape theory to magnetic systems.
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Detection and characterization of targets in complex media using fingerprint matrices Le Ber, A., A. Goïcoechea, L. M. Rachbauer, W. Lambert, X. Jia, M. Fink, A. Tourin, S. Rotter, and A. Aubry Nature Physics 21, no. 10, 1609-1615 (2025)
Résumé: When waves propagate through a complex medium, they undergo several scattering events. This phenomenon is detrimental to imaging, as it causes full blurring of the image. Here we describe a method for detecting, localizing and characterizing any scattering target embedded in a complex medium. We introduce a fingerprint operator that contains the specific signature of the target with respect to its environment. When applied to the recorded reflection matrix, it provides a likelihood index of the target state. This state can be the position of the target for localization purposes, its shape for characterization or any other parameter that influences its response. We demonstrate the versatility of our method by performing proof-of-concept ultrasound experiments on elastic spheres buried inside a strongly scattering granular suspension and on lesion markers, which are commonly used to monitor breast tumours, embedded in a foam mimicking soft tissue. Furthermore, we show how the fingerprint operator can be leveraged to characterize the complex medium itself by mapping the fibre architecture within muscle tissue. Our method is broadly applicable to different types of waves beyond ultrasound for which multi-element technology allows a reflection matrix to be measured.
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Bottom-up iterative anomalous diffusion detector (BI-ADD) Park, J., N. Sokolovska, C. Cabriel, I. Izeddin, and J. Miné-Hattab Journal of Physics: Photonics 7, no. 4, 045027 (2025)
Résumé: In recent years, the segmentation of short molecular trajectories with varying diffusive properties has drawn particular attention of researchers, since it allows studying the dynamics of a particle. In the past decade, machine learning methods have shown highly promising results, also in changepoint detection and segmentation tasks. Here, we introduce a novel iterative method to identify the changepoints in a molecular trajectory, i.e. frames, where the diffusive behavior of a particle changes. A trajectory in our case follows a fractional Brownian motion and we estimate the diffusive properties of the trajectories. The proposed Bottom-up iterative anomalous diffusion detector (BI-ADD) combines unsupervised and supervised learning methods to detect the changepoints. Our approach can be used for the analysis of molecular trajectories at the individual level and also be extended to multiple particle tracking, which is an important challenge in fundamental biology. We validated BI-ADD in various scenarios within the framework of the 2nd anomalous diffusion challenge 2024 dedicated to single particle tracking. Our method is implemented in Python and is publicly available for research purposes.
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Open channels and radiation trapping eigenstates in complex resonant media Rescanieres, R., R. Pierrat, and A. Goetschy Physical Review Research 7, no. 3, 033273 (2025)
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