Suppression of transport anisotropy at the Anderson localization transition in three-dimensional anisotropic media

TL;DR

This study investigates how wave transport anisotropy in 3D anisotropic media is affected near the Anderson localization transition, revealing a suppression of anisotropy due to interference effects.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence that transport anisotropy diminishes near the Anderson transition in anisotropic media, addressing conflicting theoretical predictions.

Findings

Transport anisotropy is significantly reduced near the mobility edge.

Interference effects influence the anisotropy of wave transport.

Experimental results align with recent theoretical predictions for matter waves.

Abstract

We study the transport of classical waves through three-dimensional (3D) anisotropic media close to the Anderson localization transition. Time-, frequency-, and position-resolved ultrasonic measurements are performed on anisotropic slab-shaped mesoglass samples to probe the dynamics and the anisotropy of the multiple scattering halo, and hence to investigate the influence of disorder on the nature of wave transport and its anisotropy. These experiments allow us to address conflicting theoretical predictions that have been made about whether or not the transport anisotropy is affected by the interference effects that lead to Anderson localization. We find that the transport anisotropy is significantly reduced as the mobility edge is approached---a behavior similar to the one predicted recently for matter waves in infinite anisotropic 3D media.