Emergence of coherent backscattering from sparse and finite disordered media

TL;DR

This paper develops a first-principles model to analyze coherent backscattering in finite, sparse disordered media, revealing how density and size influence the CBS cone and aiding in characterizing complex scattering environments.

Contribution

The work introduces a novel scattering model for finite, sparse media, extending understanding of CBS phenomena beyond large, dense systems and enabling future quantum scattering studies.

Findings

CBS cone characteristics depend on density and volume size.

Finite and sparse media exhibit distinct CBS features compared to large media.

The model provides insights into using CBS to characterize disordered structures.

Abstract

Coherent backscattering (CBS) arises from complex interactions of a coherent beam with randomly positioned particles, which has been typically studied in media with large numbers of scatterers and high opacity. We develop a first-principles scattering model for scalar waves to study the CBS cone formation in finite-sized and sparse random media with specific geometries. The results provide new insights into the effects of density, volume size, and other relevant parameters on the angular characteristics of the CBS cone emerging from bounded random media for various types of illumination. This work also highlights some of the potentials and limitations of employing the coherent backscattering phenomenon to characterize disordered configurations. The method developed here provides a foundation for studies of the multiple scattering of complex electromagnetic fields in randomized geometries, including quantized fields for investigating the effects of the quantum nature of light in multiple scattering.