Diffusion of light transmitted from rough surfaces

Abstract

We have experimentally studied the diffusion of light transmitted from rough surfaces, and made an additional contribution to the problem showing in our experiments that the maximum displacement depends on the incident angle and on the ratio of two statistical parameters belonging to the surface: the roughness and the correlation length T. As we depart from normal incidence, we find that the maximum shifts to another direction that is neither the incident direction nor the Snell direction. We compare our experimental results with those that can be calculated with a simple theory, in which we extend the theory of Beckmann and Spizzichino for reflection to transmission and observe important agreements and differences.