Beam propagation in multiple scattering media

Abstract

We examine optical beam propagation and scattering in random media using three equations: radiative transfer, Fokker-Planck and Leakeas-Larsen. The Fokker-Planck equation gives a good approximation to the radiative transfer equation for foward peaked scattering phase functions. The Leakeas-Larsen equation gives an even better approximation. The solutions for all three of these equations can be represented as expansions in plane wave modes. Using these plane wave modes, we can compute solutions to these equations in a stable and efficient way.