Non-self-similar light transport in scattering media

Year: 2024

Authors: Pini E., Mazzamuto G., Riboli F., Wiersma DS., Pattelli L.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Firenze, Dept Phys & Astron, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; European Lab Nonlinear Spect LENS, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Natl Inst Opt CNR INO, Natl Res Council, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Ist Nazl Ric Metrol INRiM, I-10135 Turin, Italy.

Abstract: Transport processes underpin a wide variety of phenomena, ranging from chemistry, to physics and ecology. Despite their pervasiveness, however, several distinctive features of these processes are still elusive, making it difficult to recognize and classify the associated transport regimes. Using light scattering as a probe to explore different propagation regimes, we report on the experimental observation of non-self-similar light transport through turbid membranes. Our results show that a breakdown of self-similarity can arise for light waves even in the presence of isotropic and homogeneous disorder, and can be tuned by varying the turbidity of the system. By introducing the concept of self-similarity for light propagation, we provide a unified framework for the classification of light transport regimes-overcoming the dichotomy between normal and anomalous diffusion-and show that non-self-similar propagation is a common and experimentally accessible phenomenon. This insight can help to understand and model other scenarios where light transport is dominated by rare propagation events, such as in nonlinear and active media, but also in other fields of research beyond optics.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW RESEARCH

Volume: 6 (3)      Pages from: L032026-1  to: L032026-7

More Information: L.P. and F.R. acknowledge financial support by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU Programme with the I-PHOQS Research Infrastructure (IR0000016, ID D2B8D520, CUP B53C22001750006) Integrated infrastructure initiative in Photonic and Quantum Sciences, and NVIDIA Corporation for the donation of the Titan X Pascal GPU used for this research. L.P. wishes to thank F. Martelli and S. Lepri for discussion. E.P. thanks S. Donato for his help with sample preparation. D.S.W. acknowledges financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under FET-OPEN Grant Agreement No. 828946 (PATHOS) .r Titan X Pascal GPU used for this research. L.P. wishes to thank F. Martelli and S. Lepri for discussion. E.P. thanks S. Donato for his help with sample preparation. D.S.W. acknowl-edges financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under FET-OPEN Grant Agreement No. 828946 (PATHOS) .
KeyWords: Localization; Diffusion; Models
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L032026

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