Anderson Localization of Electromagnetic Waves in Dielectric Media: Model Studies

M. Rusek and A. Orłowski Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland

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Received: 19 05 2005;

Anderson localization of electromagnetic waves in random arrays of dielectric cylinders confined within a planar metallic waveguide is studied. The disordered dielectric medium is modeled by a system of randomly distributed 2D electric dipoles. An effective theoretical approach based on the method of images is developed. A clear distinction between isolated localized waves (which exist in finite media) and the band of localized waves (which appears only in the limit of the infinite medium) is presented. The Anderson transition emerging in the limit of an infinite medium is observed both in finite size scaling analysis of transmission and in the properties of the spectra of some random matrices. The sound physical interpretation of the obtained results suggests deeper insight into the existing experimental and theoretical work.

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.109.109 PACS numbers:42.25.Fx, 42.25.Hz, 72.10.Fk, 78.20.Ci