Statistical distribution of intensities reflected from disordered media

A theoretical analysis of the statistical distributions of the reflected intensities from random media is presented. We use random matrix theory to analytically deduce the probability densities in the localization regime. Numerical calculations of the coupling to backward modes in surface corrugated waveguides are also put forward for comparison. Interestingly, the speckle distributions are found to be independent of the transport regime. Despite the scattering being highly nonisotropic, the predicted probability densities reproduce accurately the numerical results. [S0031-9007(98)06550-8].