Anderson localization of counterpropagating beams in optically induced photonic lattices

In a numerical study, we report the first observation of transverse Anderson localization of mutually incoherent counterpropagating beams in optically induced disordered two-dimensional photonic lattices, recorded in a photorefractive crystal. We consider a system of two broad probe beams propagating head-on through the fixed photonic lattice. We demonstrate Anderson localization of the probe beams, by adding random disorder to the lattice. Changing the disorder we observe localization effects of the probe beams. In addition to steady state localization, we also observe the dynamical localization; that is, Anderson localization of the unstable, time-changing counterpropagating beams.