Photon transport in thin disordered slabs

TL;DR

This paper investigates photon transport in thin disordered slabs using Monte Carlo simulations and analytical modeling, revealing how confined geometry influences photon paths and transport regimes.

Contribution

It introduces an analytical model incorporating directional persistence to accurately describe photon transport in thin slabs, validated by simulations.

Findings

Auto-selection of looping photon paths in thin slabs

Analytical model matches Monte Carlo results across regimes

Transition from ballistic to diffusive transport characterized

Abstract

We examine using Monte Carlo simulations, photon transport in optically `thin' slabs whose thickness L is only a few times the transport mean free path $l^{*}$, with particles of different scattering anisotropies. The confined geometry causes an auto-selection of only photons with looping paths to remain within the slab. The results of the Monte Carlo simulations are borne out by our analytical treatment which incorporates the directional persistence by the use of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, which interpolates between the short time ballistic and long time diffusive regimes.