Classical wave propagation in strongly scattering media

Abstract

The transport of classical waves in strongly scattering media is investigated using ultrasonic techniques, allowing us to measure both the ballistic and scattered components of the wave field. We find that the ballistic propagation is dramatically slowed down by scattering resonances, although the group velocity remains well-defined. The propagation of the scattered waves is also strongly affected by resonant scattering, and is shown to be well described by using the diffusion approximation. A model based on the generalized coherent potential approximation gives a quantitative explanation of the experimental data.