In nanophotonics and optomechanics, disorder and absorption are typically regarded as
detrimental, limiting coherence, performance, and control. However, these
imperfections—ubiquitous and unavoidable at the nanoscale—give rise to rich and complex
dynamics [1, 2]. In this colloquium, I will present recent work showing how structural disorder
and optical absorption, when properly understood and combined, can enable the emergence of
complex nonlinear dynamics in nanophotonic and optomechanical systems. Specifically, we
explore Anderson-localized modes in disordered optomechanical cavities with a full phononic
gap [3], where nonlinear dynamical backaction, combined with two-photon absorption [4], gives
rise to complex and even chaotic photon dynamics This rich nonlinear-dynamical phase space is
not only robust but also exhibit the diversity and sensitivity required to emulate key features of
neural networks (at least their nonlinear nodes). This opens a promising pathway toward
implementing reservoir computing in disordered nanophotonic systems, where imperfections
and absorption become computational resources rather than limitations.