Probing Long-Range Intensity Correlations inside Disordered Photonic Nanostructures

Abstract: We report direct observation of the development of long-range spatial intensity correlations and the growth of intensity fluctuations inside the random media. We fabricated quasi-two-dimensional disordered photonic structures and probed the light transport from a third dimension. Good agreements between experiment and theory are obtained. We were able to manipulate the long-range intensity correlations and intensity fluctuations inside the disordered waveguides by simply varying the waveguide geometry.