Statistical properties of wave transport through surface-disordered waveguides

We review some general statistical properties of wave transport through surface disordered waveguides. These systems are shown to present both striking similarities and differences with respect to quasi-one-dimensional waveguides with volume disorder. The statistical properties are analysed using extensive numerical calculations and random matrix theory results. The transport properties are characterized by the statistical behaviour of different transport coefficients that can be defined for both classical (light, microwaves, sound, etc.) and quantum (electrons) waves. In analogy with bulk-disordered systems, the behaviour of the waveguide conductance/resistance (defined for both classical and quantum waves) as a function of the system length defines three different transport regimes: ballistic, diffusive and localization. However, the coupling between waveguide modes presents significant differences with respect to the coupling induced by volume defects. For any incoming mode, there is a strong preference for the forward propagation through the lowest mode. For narrow waveguides, the statistics of reflection coefficients (reflected speckle pattern) present strong finite-size effects which can be surprisingly well described by random matrix theory. Special attention is paid to the fundamental problem of the transition between different regimes. The long-standing problems of the phase randomization process between ballistic and diffusive regimes and the evolution of the conductance statistical distribution in the transition from diffusion (Gaussian statistics) to localization (log normal statistics) are also discussed.