title: The single-channel regime of transport through random media.
abstract: The propagation of light through samples with random inhomogeneities can be described by way of transmission eigenchannels, which connect incoming and outgoing external propagating modes. Although the detailed structure of a disordered sample can generally not be fully specified, these transmission eigenchannels can nonetheless be successfully controlled and used for focusing and imaging light through random media. Here we demonstrate that in deeply localized quasi-1D systems, the single dominant transmission eigenchannel is formed by an individual Anderson-localized mode or by a 'necklace state'. In this single-channel regime, the disordered sample can be treated as an effective 1D system with a renormalized localization length, coupled through all the external modes to its surroundings. Using statistical criteria of the single-channel regime and pulsed excitations of the disordered samples allows us to identify long-lived localized modes and short-lived necklace states at long and short time delays, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78249, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peña
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, A-1040 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Girschik
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Libisch
authors.affiliation: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology, A-1040 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rotter
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78249, USA.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Chabanov