Manipulation of Multiple Light Scattering ? Principles and Applications

Optical wave propagation through disordered systems is a fundamental physical phenomenon and is relevant to numerous applications ranging from imaging through biological tissues to quantum information processes. When coherent light fields pass through highly scattering media such as opaque layers of paint or human skin tissues, light exhibits multiple scattering events due to the inhomogeneous distribution of the refractive indices in the medium. Although a multiple scattering event results in the formation of a speckle pattern in the scattered light fields and looks like a stochastic process, elastic light scattering is a deterministic phenomenon that can be fully described by Maxwell’s equations. Recently, multiple research groups have demonstrated control of multiple scattering in disordered systems via several wavefront-shaping methods. To provide insight into how multiple light scattering can be exploited for various purposes, we summarize recent progress on wavefront-shaping techniques and their applications. .