Enhancement backscattering of light: a direct visual-desktop experience

Abstract

Direct visual images of the angular distribution of light scattered by one-dimensional, quasi-one-dimensional and two-dimensional randomly rough surfaces, in both plane- and conical-geometries of incidence, are shown. By using a simple desktop arrangement, the images clearly show the enhancement backscattering of light effect for these samples under a 633 nm wavelength, un-polarized, He-Ne laser illumination. Of particular interest is a circularly symmetric enhanced backscattering pattern associated to the uniformly two-dimensional rough surface employed. The surface profiles of the well-characterized samples can be modeled as a Gaussian random process with Gaussian correlation functions too.