One-dimensional light localization with classical scatterers: An advanced undergraduate laboratory experiment

2016 
The phenomenon of electronic wave localization through disorder remains an important area of fundamental and applied research. Localization of all wave phenomena, including light, is thought to exist in a restricted one-dimensional geometry. We present here a series of experiments to illustrate, using a straightforward experimental arrangement and approach, the localization of light in a quasi-one-dimensional physical system. In the experiments, reflected and transmitted light from a stack of glass slides of varying thickness reveals an Ohm's law type behavior for small thicknesses, and evolution to exponential decay of the transmitted power for larger thicknesses. For larger stacks of slides, a weak departure from one-dimensional behavior is also observed. The experiment and analysis of the results, showing many of the essential features of wave localization, is relatively straightforward, economical, and suitable for laboratory experiments at an undergraduate level.
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