Yoav Lahini Department of physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Office 4-337c Tel. 617-253-7467 lahini [at] mit [dot] edu
I am a Pappalardo post-doctoral fellow at MIT, working on various aspects of disordered systems, linear and nonlinear photonics, Quantum photonics and Quantum information, Topological properties of quasicrystals, and soft-matter physics. Before coming to MIT I completed my Ph.D. in experimental physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel working with Prof. Yaron Silberberg. My thesis was on “Nonlinear and quantum optics of disordered media”. An updated list of publications can be found on ADS or Google Scholar
News:
	I will present a summary of our research on quantum walks in the Wilhelm und Else Heraeus-Seminar: Classical and Quantum Transport in Complex Networks, July 29 - August 01, 2013 @ Bad-Honnef, Germany.
	I’ll be participating in the Complex Nano-Photonics Science camp, in Cumberland Lodge, Berkshire, UK, 27th – 30th August 2013;
	I will present our research on the topological properties of quasicrystals in ICQ12: the 12th International Conference on Quasicrystals, 1-6 September 2013, Kraków, Poland
	April 25, 2013 : “Self-trapping threshold in disordered nonlinear photonic lattices”, presenting an experimental and numerical study of self-trapping dynamics and soliton formation in nonlinear disordered lattices, appeared in Optics Letters.
	February 15, 2013: “Observation of Topological Phase Transitions in Photonic Quasicrystals” appeared in Physics Review Letters. This is a second experimental paper on the topological properties of quasicrystals, in which we measure a topological phase transition at the boundary between two quasicrystals.
	September 4, 2012 “Topological States and Adiabatic Pumping in Quasicrystals” (finally) appeared in Physical Review Letters. We report the surprising finding that quasi-crystals are in fact a topological phase of matter, observe edge states in photonic quasicrystals and use their topological nature to preform adiabatic pumping of light across the crystal. See also: “Viewpoint: Quasicrystals, Meet Topological Insulators” Physics 5, 99 (2012) “Research highlights: Mid-guide spread” Nature Physics 8, 702 (2012) Editor’s Choice, Science 338, 6106, Issue of 26 October 2012 A popular article explaining our research on 2physics.com
	August 20, 2012 “Fourier processing of quantum light” appeared as a rapid communication in Physical Review A. Here we study the effects of a classical Fourier shaper on the spatial correlations of quantum light.
	July 16, 2012, “Quantum walk of two interacting bosons” appeared as a rapid communication in Physical Review A. In this paper we study the dynamics of two interacting quantum particles on a lattice, and the correlations that arise due to the interplay of interactions, the periodic potential and quantum statistics. We experimentally observe the classical limit of these correlations in nonlinear optical waveguide lattices, and outline a possible experiment that will be able to probe the quantum regime.
	July 12, 2012 “Disorder-enhanced nonlinear delocalization in segmented waveguide arrays” appears in New Journal of Physics.
	March 1, 2012: “Perfect imaging through a disordered waveguide lattice”, appeared in Optics Letters. Here we show that perfect revival of an initial condition is possible in disordered lattices via simple phase staggering, as long as the disorder is of the “off-diagonal” type.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. ― Samuel Beckett If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research. ― Albert Einstein