Measuring enhanced optical correlations induced by transmission open channels in a slab geometry

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how digital holography can quantify the number of open transmission channels in a disordered medium, revealing a significant reduction compared to theoretical expectations, thus advancing understanding of optical transport.

Contribution

It introduces a method to measure transmitted field correlations to determine the number of open channels in a disordered medium, aligning experimental results with theory.

Findings

Number of channels reduced by about 15 times with sample

Experimental measurements agree with theoretical predictions

Enhanced optical correlations are observed in the sample

Abstract

Light can be transmitted through disordered media with high efficiency due to the existence of open channels, but quantitative agreement with theory is difficult to obtain because of the large number of channels to control. By measuring, by digital holography, the correlations of the transmitted field, we are able to determine the number of channels involved in transmission. With sample, the number of channels is divided by about 15 with respect to what is expected without sample. This figure is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction.