title: Coherence loss in light backscattering by random media with nanoscale nonuniformities.
abstract: An experimental technique for measuring time-resolved coherence loss and destruction of backscattered wave packets in random media is described. The results of such measurements, performed with a modified Michelson interferometer, contain rich information about the characteristics of media nonuniformities. Experimental data for model nanosuspensions are compared with theoretical expressions developed in the paper which include the effects of Mie-type resonant scattering. We attribute one such observed effect to enhanced ineleastic optical transitions near the surface of nonmetallic nanoparticles. The inverse problem of characterization of multiscattering random media by backscattering is also considered.
authors.affiliation: Center for Process Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1700, USA.
authors.forename: Anatol M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Brodsky
authors.forename: Gordon T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Summer L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: Lloyd W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Burgess