Modification of light transmission channels by inhomogeneous absorption in random media

Optical absorption is omnipresent and often distributed non-uniformly in space. We present a numerical study on the effects of inhomogeneous absorption on transmission eigenchannels of light in highly scattering media. In the weak absorption regime, the spatial profile of a transmission channel remains similar to that without absorption, and the effect of inhomogeneous absorption can be stronger or weaker than homogeneous absorption depending on the spatial overlap of the localized absorbing region with the field intensity maximum of the channel. In the strong absorption regime, the high transmission channels redirect the energy flows to circumvent the absorbing regions to minimize loss. The attenuation of high transmission channels by inhomogeneous absorption is lower than that by homogeneous absorption, regardless of the location of the absorbing region. The statistical distribution of transmission eigenvalues in the former becomes broader than that in the latter, due to a longer tail at high transmission. The maximum enhancement factor of total transmission increases with absorption, eventually exceeds that without absorption. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America