title: Light diffusion in quenched disorder: role of step correlations.
abstract: We present a theoretical and experimental study of light transport in disordered media with strongly heterogeneous distribution of scatterers formed via nonscattering regions. Step correlations induced by quenched disorder are found to prevent diffusivity from diverging with increasing heterogeneity scale, contrary to expectations from annealed models. Spectral diffusivity is measured for a porous ceramic where nanopores act as scatterers and macropores render their distribution heterogeneous. Results agree well with Monte Carlo simulations and a proposed analytical model.
authors.affiliation: European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.affiliation: European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy and Institut Langevin, ESPCI ParisTech, CNRS, 1 rue Jussieu, 75238 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vynck
authors.affiliation: Ceramic Materials, SWEREA IVF, Post Office Box 104, SE- 431 22 Mölndal, Sweden.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Adolfsson
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN-CNR), Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, Milan 20133, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farina
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN-CNR), Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, Milan 20133, Italy and Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, Milan 20133, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pifferi
authors.affiliation: European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy and Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (CNR-INO), Largo Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Diederik S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Wiersma
mesh_terms: D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008027:Light; D008422:Materials Testing; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D058608:Nanopores / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009391:Nephelometry and Turbidimetry / Q000379:methods*; D016062:Porosity; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013223:Statistics as Topic