Spatial correlations in the near field of random media

    Authors

    A. Apostol;A. Dogariu

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Phys. Rev. Lett.

    Keywords

    COHERENCE; SURFACE; FLUCTUATIONS; Physics, Multidisciplinary

    Abstract

    The conventional coherence theory suggests that the fields radiated by statistically homogeneous sources correlate over spatial regions of the order of the wavelength irrespective of the distance from the surface of the source. Contrary to these predictions, we show that the spatial correlations of optical fields in close proximity of highly scattering, randomly inhomogeneous media depend on this distance and, moreover, their extent can be significantly smaller than the wavelength. The contribution of evanescent fields is experimentally demonstrated and the coherence length in the near field is shown to relate to the coherence properties at the surface which are, in turn, determined by the structural characteristics of the random media.

    Journal Title

    Physical Review Letters

    Volume

    91

    Issue/Number

    9

    Publication Date

    1-1-2003

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    4

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000185235000021

    ISSN

    0031-9007

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