Frankfurt 2006 – scientific programme
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SYRT: Radiation transport in random media
SYRT 1: Radiation transport in random media I
SYRT 1.3: Invited Talk
Friday, March 17, 2006, 12:00–12:30, HVI
Experiments on the critical regime near Anderson localization of light — •Georg Maret, Martin Störzer, Peter Gross, and Christof M. Aegerter — Fachbereich Physik, Universität Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
As predicted first by P.W. Anderson diffusive transport of multiply scattered waves in disordered media may break down due to interference. This transition to localization of waves should occur for any classical or quantum wave in any media when the wavelength becomes comparable to the transport mean free path l*. Unequivocal experimental proof of the existence of wave localization in disordered bulk (3D) materials is still lacking, basically since the signatures of localization and absorption may be rather similar. Here we present measurements of time resolved non-classical diffusion of visible light in strongly scattering samples of colloidal TiO2, which cannot be explained by absorption, sample geometry or reduced transport velocity. Deviations from classical diffusion increase strongly with decreasing l* as expected for a phase transition. This constitutes an experimental realization of the critical regime in the approach to Anderson localization of light.