Anderson localization of light in two-dimensional random photonic crystals

We report the characteristics of Anderson localized modes in two-dimensional photonic crystals as a function of the degree of structural randomness. Theoretical analysis is performed by FDTD algorithm. We analyze impulse response of two-dimensional triangular photonic crystals, in which the positions of air holes are slightly deviated to random directions. It is shown that the appropriate degree of random departure from a perfect crystal state gives rise to multiple scattering of low group velocity band-edge modes and supports their strong Anderson localization. The obtained theoretical results are experimentally demonstrated by InP based two-dimensional random photonic crystal lasers. By use of SNOM we exhibit the direct observation of Anderson localization of light in a planar two-dimensional structure.