Experimental observation of a fundamental length scale of waves in random media

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Item Type:	Article
Title:	Experimental observation of a fundamental length scale of waves in random media
Creators Name:	Barkhofen, S., Metzger, J.J., Fleischmann, R., Kuhl, U. and Stöckmann, H.J.
Abstract:	Waves propagating through a weakly scattering random medium show a pronounced branching of the flow accompanied by the formation of freak waves, i.e., extremely intense waves. Theory predicts that this strong fluctuation regime is accompanied by its own fundamental length scale of transport in random media, parametrically different from the mean free path or the localization length. We show numerically how the scintillation index can be used to assess the scaling behavior of the branching length. We report the experimental observation of this scaling using microwave transport experiments in quasi-two-dimensional resonators with randomly distributed weak scatterers. Remarkably, the scaling range extends much further than expected from random caustics statistics.
Keywords:	Random Processes, Scattering, Microwave Resonators, Localization Length, Mean Free Path, Microwave Transport, Random Medium, Randomly Distributed, Scaling Behavior, Scintillation Index, Waves in Random Media
Source:	Physical Review Letters
ISSN:	0031-9007
Publisher:	American Physical Society
Volume:	111
Number:	18
Page Range:	183902
Date:	1 November 2013
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.183902
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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