Replica Symmetry Breaking in Random Lasers: Experimental Measurement of the Overlap Distribution

In this chapter we report measurements of the overlap distribution of the replica symmetry breaking solution in complex disordered systems. After a general introduction to the problem of the experimental validation of the Parisi order parameter, we focus on systems where the measurement has been possible for the first time: random lasers. Starting from first principles of light-matter interaction we sketch the main steps leading to the construction of the statistical mechanical model for the dynamics of light modes in a random laser, a spherical multi-p-spin model with complex spins. A new overlap is introduced, the intensity fluctuation overlap, whose probability distribution, under specific assumptions, is equivalent to the Parisi overlap distribution. The experimental protocol for measuring this overlap is based on the possibility of experimentally realizing real replicas. After a description of the first experiment on the random laser made of T5COx grains we review and discuss various experiments measuring the overlap distribution, as well as the possible connection with Lévy-like distribution of the intensity of the light modes around the laser threshold, the connection with turbulence in fiber lasers and the role of spatial heterogeneities of light modes in random media.