Abstract

We study light transport through static disordered slabs in the mesoscopic regimo, i.e., I. ≫ I ≫ λ, where L is the sample thickness, I is the mean tree path, and λ is the wavelength. Interference between diffuse light paths causes large fluctuations in the transmission. This leads to short-range and long-range correlation as a function of wavelength or angle of incidence and to the optical analog of universal conductance fluctuations (UCF).^1-5 Recently, the probability distribution of the transmitted intensity has received much attention. To first order in the optical conductance g = NI/L (with N the number of transverse optical modes) the probability distribution of the total transmitted intensity T is Gaussian with variance ∞ I/g.

© 1994 Optical Society of America