title: Glassy behavior of light.
abstract: We study the nonlinear dynamics of a multimode random laser using the methods of statistical physics of disordered systems. A replica-symmetry breaking phase transition is predicted as a function of the pump intensity. We thus show that light propagating in a random nonlinear medium displays glassy behavior; i.e., the photon gas has a multitude of metastable states and a nonvanishing complexity, corresponding to mode-locking processes in random lasers. The present work reveals the existence of new physical phenomena, and demonstrates how nonlinear optics and random lasers can be a benchmark for the modern theory of complex systems and glasses.
authors.affiliation: Research Center SMC INFM-CNR, c/o Università di Roma La Sapienza, I-00185, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Angelani
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ruocco
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zamponi