Diffusive light transport in semitransparent media

Year: 2016

Authors: Pattelli L., Mazzamuto G., Wiersma D., Toninelli C.

Autors Affiliation: European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (CNR-INO), Via Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; Department of Physics, Università di Firenze, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; QSTAR, Largo Enrico Fermi 2, 50125 Florence, Italy

Abstract: It is common knowledge that diffusion theory cannot describe light propagation in semitransparent media, i.e., media with a low optical thickness. However, even in an optically thin slab, late-time transport will be eventually determined by a multiple scattering process whose characteristics are still largely unexplored. We numerically demonstrate that, even for an optical thickness as low as 1, after a short transient, propagation along the slab plane becomes diffusive. Nonetheless, we show that such a diffusion process is governed by modified statistical distributions which result from a highly nontrivial interplay with boundary conditions.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW A

Volume: 94 (4)      Pages from: 043846-1  to: 043846-6

More Information: The authors thank F. Martelli and M. Burresi for fruitful discussion. This work is financially supported by the ERC Advanced Grant PhotBots (Project No. 291349) funded under Grant No. FP7-IDEAS-ERC. C.T. and G.M. acknowledge financial support from the MIUR program Atom-Based Nanotechnology and Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze through the project GRANCASSA.
KeyWords: thin disordered slabs; boundary-conditions; scattering anisotropy; photon tarnsport; approximation; transmission; transition; constant; equation; model
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.94.043846

Citations: 7
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