image: The impact of disorder on waves depends strongly on their energy in three dimensions. The high-energy red wave can freely propagate outward as it is reflected from the disorder, which is created using a green laser in the experiment. In contrast, the low-energy blue wave is trapped, or localized, by reflections from the disorder, even though there is a clear path outward. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the Oct. 07, 2011, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Dr. S.S. Kondov of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, Ill., and colleagues, was titled, “Three-Dimensional Anderson Localization of Ultracold Matter.” view more
Credit: [Figure courtesy of B. DeMarco, University of Illinois]