Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 143902 (2007) [4 pages]Light Propagation in Strongly Scattering, Random Colloidal Films: The Role of the Packing GeometryReceived 24 February 2007; revised 4 May 2007; published 2 October 2007 We study the propagation of light through randomly packed films of micron-sized spheres. Dried films consist of strongly scattering core-shell particles mixed with polymer spheres, which are then dissolved to tune the number of contacts, Z, among the remaining scatterers. The transport mean free path l* is measured from the width of the coherent backscattering cone; l*=2.1 μm when Z∼4–5, but increases twofold (scattering weakens) in a film with Z∼9–10. The results contradict the standard diffusive transport model, but are explained by accounting for optical coupling of contacting spheres. © 2007 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.143902
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.143902
PACS:
42.25.Dd, 42.25.Bs, 47.57.J−
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