Transport of light in amorphous photonic materials

The propagation of light in a dense dielectric depends on refractive index variations determined by the size and shape of the building block as well as structural order. For the case of weak scattering and in the absence of long range order light is spread out diffusively. Perfectly ordered photonic crystals can exhibit forbidden regimes with a vanishing density of states. Strong scattering in amorphous dielectrics can also lead to unusual photonic behavior.