Equivalence of light transport and depolarization

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates experimentally that optical transport and depolarization are fundamentally equivalent in random media, establishing a proportionality relation that links microscopic scattering processes to polarization changes across various conditions.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental evidence of the equivalence between light transport and depolarization, quantifying their relationship in colloidal suspensions.

Findings

Optical transport lengths are proportional to depolarization lengths.

Depolarization occurs whenever light passes through random media.

The relation holds across wide spectral ranges and scatterer concentrations.

Abstract

The study of scattered polarized light has led to important advances in distinct fields such as astronomy, atmospheric sciences and bio-imaging. In random diffusing media, light disorientation and the scrambling of its polarization state appear to always occur together. Their apparent inseparability suggests a profound connection between optical transport and depolarization. Here, we present experimental evidence of their equivalence and quantify their relationship in colloidal suspensions of microscopic constituents. In particular, a proportionality relation between optical transport lengths and their depolarization counterparts is provided. This equivalence imposes depolarization whenever light traverses random media and holds for wide spectral ranges and scatterer concentrations. Our results clarify the connection between microscopic processes and measurable polarization signatures.