Reflection coefficient and localization length of waves in one-dimensional random media

Abstract

We develop a powerful method of exactly calculating various transport characteristics of waves in one-dimensional random media with (or without) coherent absorption or amplification. Using the method, we compute the probability densities of the reflectance and of the phase of the reflection coefficient, together with the localization length, of electromagnetic waves in sufficiently long random dielectric media. We find substantial differences between our exact results and the previous results obtained using the random phase approximation (RPA). The probability density of the phase of the reflection coefficient is highly nonuniform when either disorder or absorption (or amplification) is strong. The probability density of the reflectance when the absorption or amplification parameter is large is also quite different from the RPA result. We prove that the probability densities in the amplifying case are related to those in the absorbing case with the same magnitude of the imaginary part of the dielectric permeability by exact dual relationships. From the analysis of the average reflectance that shows a nonmonotonic dependence on the absorption or amplification parameter, we obtain a useful criterion for the applicability of the RPA. In the parameter regime where the RPA is invalid, we find that the exact localization length is substantially larger than the RPA localization length.