HIDDEN COHERENT STRUCTURE AND PHASE CORRELATIONS OF UNPOLARIZED LIGHT IN MULTIPLE SCATTERING

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  • Authors: Meglinski I.V.1,2, Tuchin V.V.3,4,5
  • Affiliations:
    1. Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies, College of Engineering & Physical Sciences, Aston University
    2. I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Sechenovskiy University)
    3. Institute of Physics, Saratov State University
    4. Science Medical Center, Saratov State University
    5. Institute of Precision Mechanics and Control, FRC "Saratov Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences"
  • Issue: Vol 524, No 1 (2025)
  • Pages: 23-32
  • Section: ФИЗИКА
  • URL: https://ogarev-online.ru/2686-7400/article/view/356208
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7868/S3034508125050044
  • ID: 356208

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Abstract

A new conceptual interpretation of the nature of depolarized light is presented. According to this view, light undergoing multiple scattering in a turbid, disordered medium, although formally unpolarized, retains a hidden coherent structure. In contrast to light from incoherent sources (e.g., natural sunlight), which consists of short, uncorrelated wave packets, scattered coherent laser light can be understood as a systematically organized superposition of circularly polarized components with opposite helicities and stable phase relationships. It is shown that the apparent depolarization of scattered light arises not from complete randomization, but from a structured overlap of left- and right-circularly polarized wave packet pairs, indicating the presence of macroscopic phase correlations in the scattered field within optically dense dispersive medium, such as a biological tissue. These findings significantly expand the potential of biomedical polarimetry, revealing its capability to act as a functional analogue of quantum sensing, capable of detecting and exploiting entangled phase states that emerge naturally from coherent scattering events in biological medium.

About the authors

I. V. Meglinski

Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies, College of Engineering & Physical Sciences, Aston University; I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Sechenovskiy University)

Email: tuchinvy@mail.ru
Birmingham, The United Kingdom; Moscow, Russia

V. V. Tuchin

Institute of Physics, Saratov State University; Science Medical Center, Saratov State University; Institute of Precision Mechanics and Control, FRC "Saratov Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences"

Saratov, Russia

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