Spontaneous decay rate of a dipole emitter in a strongly scattering disordered environment

We study the statistics of the fluorescence decay rate of a dipole emitter embedded in a strongly scattering medium. In the multiple-scattering regime, the probability of observing a decrease in the decay rate is substantial, as predicted by exact numerical simulations. The decrease originates from a reduction of the local density of optical states and is due to collective interactions and interferences. In the strong-scattering regime, signatures of recurrent scattering are visible in the behavior of the average decay rate.