Frequency-resolved interferometer measurements of polarized wave propagation in scattering media

An interferometric technique is utilized to measure both the time- and frequency-domain optical fields scattered by a random medium. The method uses a tunable continuous-wave laser source to make frequency-resolved measurements within a fixed-path-length interferometer. Measured frequency-domain field statistics, with a linearly polarized input, are shown to be zero-mean, circular complex Gaussian for both co- and cross-polarization states. With decreasing scatter, the extracted average impulse responses for co- and cross-polarized states show distinct differences, thereby providing insight into the scattering domain. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.