UNIVERSAL POLARIZATION CORRELATIONS AND MICROSTATISTICS OF OPTICAL WAVES IN RANDOM-MEDIA

Universal polarization correlation functions are derived for multiply scattered optical waves and found to be in excellent agreement with experiment for a wide variety of samples. New statistics, termed microstatistics, are found for the polarization-dependent fluctuations of intensity within a single coherence area of the scattered field. Theoretical and experimental results on the unique distribution functions describing these microstatistics are presented. © 1990 The American Physical Society.