Anderson localization in synthetic photonic lattice with random coupling

A synthetic photonic lattice (SPL) is a re-configurable test-bed for studying the dynamics of one-dimensional mesh lattices including the photonic implementations of discrete time quantum walks. Unlike other realizations of photonic lattices, SPL possesses easy and fast control of lattice parameters. Here we consider disordered SPL where the coupling ratio between the two fiber loops realizing the lattice is random but does not change between the round trips. We obtain a new analytical result for the localization length (inverse Lyapunov exponent) for a practical case of weak coupling disorder. We also numerically study the dynamics of the pulse train circulating within the loops and observe that despite delocalization transition at the band center the pulse spreading is arrested even at small values of the disorder. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement