Universal structure of transmission eigenchannels inside opaque media

Matthieu Davy (1) , Zhou Shi (2, 3) , Jongchul Park (3, 2) , Chushun Tian (4) , Azriel Z. Genack (3, 2)

1 IETR - Institut d'Électronique et des Technologies du numéRique
2 Graduate Center
3 QC - Department of Physics, Queens College, CUNY
4 Institute for Advanced Study [Tsinghua]

As the desire to explore opaque materials is ordinarily frustrated by multiple scattering of waves, attention has focused on the transmission matrix of the wave field. This matrix gives the fullest account of transmission and conductance and enables the control of the transmitted flux; however, it cannot address the fundamental issue of the spatial profile of eigenchannels of the transmission matrix inside the sample. Here we obtain a universal expression for the average disposition of energy of transmission eigenchannels within random diffusive systems in terms of auxiliary localization lengths determined by the corresponding transmission eigenvalues. The spatial profile of each eigenchannel is shown to be a solution of a generalized diffusion equation. These results reveal the rich structure of transmission eigenchannels and enable the control of the energy distribution inside random media.

Mots clés: Optical physics; Physical sciences; Theoretical physics

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Matthieu Davy, Zhou Shi, Jongchul Park, Chushun Tian, Azriel Z. Genack. Universal structure of transmission eigenchannels inside opaque media. Nature Communications, 2015, 6 (1), pp.6893. ⟨10.1038/ncomms7893⟩. ⟨hal-01144619⟩