1997/08/07 by J. C. J. Paasschens, J.C.J. Paasschens, M. J. M. de Jong +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #cond-mat.dis-nn #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.56.4216
published as Phys. Rev. A 56, 4216 (1997) · 27 pages RevTeX with 11 figures included with psfig
arxiv created 1997/08/07 · openalex publication_date 1997/11/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
This is a theoretical study of the interplay of optical phase conjugation and multiple scattering. We calculate the intensity of light reflected by a phase-conjugating mirror when it is placed behind a disordered medium. We compare the results of a fully phase-coherent theory with those from the theory of radiative transfer. Both methods are equivalent if the dwell time \ensuremathτdwell of a photon in the disordered medium is much larger than the inverse of the frequency shift 2\ensuremathΔ\ensuremathω acquired at the phase-conjugating mirror. When \ensuremathτdwell\ensuremathΔ\ensuremathω\ensuremath\lesssim1, in contrast, phase coherence drastically affects the reflected intensity. In particular, a minimum in the dependence of the reflectance on the disorder strength disappears when \ensuremathΔ\ensuremathω is reduced below 1/\ensuremathτdwell. The analogies and differences with Andreev reflection of electrons at the interface between a normal metal and a superconductor are discussed.