Generalized Conductance Fluctuations in Anderson Localization at the two Limits of Disorder

Anderson localization (AL) of light[1], one of the most exotic mesoscopic phenomena, can be realized at two limits of disorder, namely, near-periodic disorder[2] or strong disorder[3]. AL can be characterized by sub-unity conductance. A critical parameter of interest is the fluctuations of conductance which reveals the statistical behaviour of the system and offers a more complete description of the underlying physics. However, the conventional technique of quantifying conductance precludes the measurement of the fluctuations thereof. In this work, we achieve Anderson localization of light in Gallium Arsenide membranes at both near-periodic disorder and strong disorder. We measure the generalized conductance fluctuations using the intensity distribution of light, and reveal hitherto unknown features of transport under the two approaches of localization.