Universal and nonuniversal statistics of transmission in thin random layered media

TL;DR

This paper reveals that the transmission statistics in thin random layered media are not universally determined solely by the ratio of sample length to mean free path, especially for small s, and depend on interface reflectivity and layer number.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the distribution of the logarithm of transmission in 1D layered media is nonuniversal for small s and depends on interface reflectivity and layer count, contrasting with previous assumptions.

Findings

The distribution P(ln T) becomes universal with as few as three layers.

For small s, P(ln T) depends on interface reflectivity and number of layers.

Optical experiments confirm simulation results at low and moderate transmission levels.

Abstract

The statistics of transmission through random 1D media are generally presumed to be universal and to depend only upon a single dimensionless parameter-the ratio of the sample length and the mean free path, s = L/l. Here, we show in numerical simulations and optical measurements of random binary systems, and most prominently in systems for which s is less than unity, that the statistics of the logarithm of transmission, ln T, are universal for transmission near the upper cutoff of unity and depend distinctively upon the reflectivity of the layer interfaces and their number near a lower cutoff. The universal segment of the probability distribution function of the logarithm of transmission P (ln T) is manifested with as few as three binary layers. For a given value of s, P (ln T ) evolves towards a universal distribution as the number of layers increases. Optical measurements in stacks of 5 and 20 glass coverslips exhibit statistics at low and moderate values of transmission that are close to those found in simulations for 1D layered media, while differences appear at higher transmission where the transmission time in the medium is longer and the wave explores the transverse nonuniformity of the sample.