Isotropically polarized speckle patterns

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that multiple scattering of helical beams by dual dipolar nano-spheres produces speckle patterns with uniform, isotropic polarization, revealing new insights into light polarization control in complex media.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of isotropically polarized speckle patterns resulting from dual dipolar nano-spheres, highlighting a novel polarization behavior in multiple scattering systems.

Findings

Speckle patterns can exhibit perfect isotropic polarization.

Helical beams maintain their helicity in scattering with dual dipolar particles.

Potential applications in coherent light control and random lasing.

Abstract

The polarization of the light scattered by an optically dense, random solution of dielectric nanoparticles shows peculiar properties when the scatterers exhibit strong electric and magnetic polarizabilities. While the distribution of the scattering intensity in these systems shows the typical irregular speckle patterns, the helicity of the incident light can be fully conserved when the electric and magnetic polarizabilities of the scatterers are equal. We show that the multiple scattering of helical beams by a random dispersion of "dual" dipolar nano-spheres leads to a speckle pattern exhibiting a perfect isotropic constant polarization, a situation that could be useful in coherent control of light as well as in lasing in random media.