Electromagnetic wave propagation in random media

The propagation of a narrow frequency band beam of electromagnetic waves in a medium with randomly varying index of refraction is considered. A novel formulation of the governing equation is proposed. An equation for the average Green function (or transition probability) can then be derived. A Fokker-Planck type equation is contained as a limiting case. The results are readily generalized to include the features of the random coupling model and it is argued that the present problem is particularly suited for an analysis of this type.     

Finite-size effects on intensity correlations in random media

The correlations between waves transmitted through random media are analyzed by use of a random-matrix approach and numerical simulations of rough waveguides. Although the intensity and conductance fluctuations are practically independent of the sample length, the correlations present a strong dependence on the length of the disordered region. In waveguide geometries the long-range correlations C((2)) and C((3)), usually associated to intensity and conductance fluctuations, respectively, become negative as the length of the system decreases. Our results provide a new interpretation of recent optical experiments on disordered slab geometries.     

Infinite range correlations of intensity in random media

We study a new type of long-range correlations for waves propagating in a random medium. These correlations originate from scattering events which take place close to a point source. The scattered waves propagate by diffusion to distant regions. In this way long range correlations, between any pair of distant points, are established.     

Statistical temporal behaviour of pulse wave propagation through continuous random media

Pulse waves propagating through random media suffer distortions, such as fluctuation of arrival time, temporal broadening, and alteration of skewness and kurtosis, due to both the background medium and embedded irregularities. We carry out a study on the temporal behaviour of electromagnetic pulses propagating through random media using temporal moments and an analytic solution of a two-frequency mutual coherence function recently obtained by iteration. We treat the temporal characteristics sequentially, with general expressions obtained first. Then the concise forms are given for pulse propagation in the turbulent non-dispersive atmosphere and the ionosphere, with numerical calculations for the latter. The results show that the mean arrival time is dominated by the term propagating at group velocity, and small corrections arise from higher-order dispersion of the background medium and random scattering of irregularities, but the correction from dispersion of irregularities is neglected as it is so small. As for pulse broadening in trans-ionospheric propagation, the results show that contributions are mainly from the dispersion of the background ionosphere and scattering of electron density irregularities in most cases, and the contribution of dispersion of irregularities is so small that it can be neglected. Finally, we find that the temporal skewness of a trans-ionospheric pulse is negative and its energy is shifted to the leading edge, and the contributions from scattering and dispersion of irregularities dominate over those of background, so the latter can be neglected in most cases.     

Dynamic correlation in wave propagation in random media

Field spectra are analyzed to yield the time-resolved statistics of pulsed transmission through quasi-one-dimensional dielectric media with static disorder. The normalized intensity correlation function with displacement and polarization rotation for an incident pulse of linewidth sigma at delay time t is a function only of the field correlation function, which is identical to that found for steady-state excitation, and of kappa(sigma)(t), the residual degree of intensity correlation at points at which the field correlation function vanishes. The dynamic probability distribution of normalized intensity depends only upon kappa(sigma)(t). Steady-state statistics are recovered in the limit sigma-->0, in which kappa(sigma=0) is the steady-state degree of correlation.     

Optimal beams for propagation through random media

The problem of maximizing the intensity that is transferred from a transmitter aperture to a receiver aperture is considered in which the propagation medium is random. Two optimization criteria are considered: maximal expected intensity transfer and minimal scintillation index. The beam that maximizes the expected intensity is shown to be fully coherent. Its coherent mode is determined as the principal eigenfunction for a kernel that is determined through the second-order moments of the propagation Green's function. The beam that minimizes the scintillation index is shown to be partially coherent in general, with its coherent modes determined by minimizing a quadratic form that has nonlinear dependence on the coherent-mode fields, and on the second- and fourth-order moments of the propagation Green's function.     

Fluctuations and correlations in wave transport through complex media

Intensity correlations between waves reflected and transmitted through random media are analyzed within the framework of the random matrix theory of transport. We introduce a new kind of correlations between transmitted and reflected intensities. For transmitted waves, the spatial correlation function can be expressed as the sum of three terms, with distinctive spatial dependences. This result coincides with the one obtained in the diffusive regime from perturbative calculations, but holds all the way from quasi-ballistic transport to localization.     

Path integrals for wave intensity fluctuations in random media

Approximate expressions for the fourth order moment of a wave propagating in a random medium are derived by using the path integral formulation. These solutions allow the spectrum of intensity fluctuations of a multiply scattered wave to be found, and they are valid at all distances in the medium. The results obtained by path integral methods turn out to be the same as those obtained previously by solving the parabolic partial differential equation for the fourth moment. The spatial frequency spectra of intensity fluctuations are evaluated for a medium in which the irregularities have a single scale and also for one in which there is a range of scale sizes.     

Experimental study of electromagnetic wave propagation in dense random media

Controlled experiments have been conducted to measure the propagation of synthetically generated pulses in dense random media. The dense media were prepared by embedding spherical dielectric scatterers in a homogeneous background medium: the size and volume fraction of the scatterers were the controlled parameters. A network analyser-based system operating in the frequency domain was used to measure the electric field reflected and transmitted by slab-shaped samples of dense media as the source signal was swept from 26.5 to 40 GHz. An inverse Fourier transform was used to convert the frequency domain response into time domain pulse waveforms. The time domain response was then used to obtain pulse propagation velocity and attenuation in the controlled samples. The experimental results are shown to be in general agreement with dense medium theories.     

Long-range correlations upon wave propagation in random media under the conditions of strong internal reflection from their boundaries

The large-scale behavior of the spatial distribution of radiation in a random medium is investigated under the assumption of strong internal reflection from its boundaries. The qualitative variations of the angular coherent backscattering spectrum and long-range spatial intensity correlations in the transmitted and reflected radiation fluxes are predicted. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 291–312 (January 1998)     

Photon path length distribution in random media from spectral speckle intensity correlations

We show that the spectral speckle intensity correlation (SSIC) technique can be profitably exploited to recover the path length distribution of photons scattered in a random turbid medium. We applied SSIC to the study of Teflon slabs of different thicknesses and were able to recover, via the use of the photon diffusion approximation theory, the characteristic transport mean free path ℓ^∗ and absorption length s _a of the medium. These results were compared and validated by means of complementary measurements performed on the same samples with standard pulsed laser time of flight techniques.     

Photon density wave for imaging through random media

The passage of a photon density wave through random media has been investigated extensively for medical imaging based on the diffusion approximation. In this paper, the photon density wave is studied based on the exact time-dependent vector radiative transfer theory. Both continuous and pulse photon density waves are analysed in a plane parallel medium using Mie scattering and the discrete ordinates method. The photon density wave shows superior properties over regular waves in several aspects. It has a narrower angular spectrum and maintains the original pulse shape. It also preserves the degree of polarization and increases the cross-polarization discrimination. These properties of a photon density wave suggest its potential for improving imaging. Thus, we apply the photon density wave to an imaging problem and show that it improves the quality of the images compared to other conventional imaging techniques.     

Theory of wave propagation in one-dimensional random media containing two-scale inhomogeneities

Pacific Oceanographic Institute, Far-Eastern Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 274–279, March, 1991.