Abstract
A wave packet launched into a random potential, in the strong localization regime (Anderson localization), first moves away from its original position, then returns and stops there. This phenomenon, discovered by Dominique Delande and his colleagues, has been dubbed the quantum boomerang effect. We have shown that such an effect persists in models with pseudo-random potentials and is also present in the stricken rotator. It was precisely in the context of the stricken rotator that it was recently possible to observe this effect in an experiment carried out in Santa Barbara by David Weld's group. We have shown, both theoretically and experimentally, that it is possible to control the final state of the wave packet by breaking the time-reversal symmetry of the system.
