This was part of Mathematical Aspects of 2D Quantum Materials and Meta-materials

Strain-induced Landau levels and “stealthy” disorder in photonic crystals

Mikael Rechtsman, Penn State University

Wednesday, June 10, 2026



Abstract: Photonic crystals -- transparent periodic dielectric structures -- have been called "semiconductors for light" in the sense that photons propagate through them much as electrons propagate through crystalline solids. In the first part of my talk, I will show how straining a photonic crystal can make photons behave as though they were electrons immersed in a magnetic field, leading to Landau levels for light. In the second part, I will employ photonic crystals to explore the scattering properties of highly spatially correlated, so-called "stealthy-hyperuniform," disorder.