Experimental realization of the complete seven-phase Anderson-localization landscape

Abstract:Anderson localization has evolved far beyond the conventional dichotomy between extended and localized states. Modern localization theory predicts a complete transport hierarchy comprising extended, critical, and localized phases together with all coexistence phases among them, forming a seven-phase Anderson-localization landscape. Despite its fundamental importance, this hierarchy has never been experimentally realized within a single system. Here we realize the complete seven-phase Anderson-localization landscape in a one-dimensional Floquet photonic lattice. By engineering quasiperiodic hopping profiles containing inhomogeneously distributed hopping zeros, we generate critical states and enable their coexistence with extended and localized sectors. The resulting transport regimes are directly resolved through their distinct spatiotemporal dynamics, including ballistic expansion, confined critical oscillations, and persistent localization. We observe all seven phases, including the elusive triply coexisting extended-critical-localized phase, and experimentally track the phase transitions connecting them. Our results establish the first complete experimental map of the Anderson-localization landscape and provide a unified platform for investigating mobility edges, multifractality, and programmable coherent transport.

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn); Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas); Optics (physics.optics); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

arXiv:2606.14825 [cond-mat.dis-nn]

(or arXiv:2606.14825v1 [cond-mat.dis-nn] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.14825 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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