Griffiths Anomalous Absorption in Sparse-Loss Photonic Lattices

Light absorption in photonic lattices with sparsely distributed loss sites exhibits behavior analogous to Griffiths physics. Under uniform excitation, the transmitted power shows a stretched-exponential decay and a non-monotonic dependence on the loss strength, with an optimal loss rate that maximizes absorption. This behavior arises from rare, long loss-free segments that act as weakly coupled, long-lived photonic channels, rather than from exceptional point physics or interference effects. Using a minimal tight-binding model with binary quenched dissipation, we show that rare regions produce a universal Griffiths-type subexponential decay. Sparse-loss photonic lattices thus provide an accessible platform to observe disorder-induced anomalous absorption and rare-region Griffiths physics. (c) 2026 Optica Publishing Group. All rights, including for text and data mining (TDM), Artificial Intelligence (AI) training, and similar technologies, are reserved.