Enhanced Backscattering of a partially coherent field from an anisotropic random lossy medium

The weak localization or enhanced backscattering phenomenon has received a lot of attention in the literature. The enhanced backscattering cone refers to the situation that the wave backscattered by a random medium exhibits an enhanced intensity in a narrow cone around the incoming wave direction. This phenomenon can be analyzed by a formal path integral approach. Here a mathematical derivation of this result is given based on a system of equations that describes the second-order moments of the reflected wave. This system derives from a multiscale stochastic analysis of the wave field in the situation with high-frequency waves and propagation through a lossy medium with fine scale random microstructure. The theory identifies a duality relation between the spreading of the wave and the enhanced backscattering cone. It shows how the cone, its regularity and width relate to the statistical structure of the random medium. We discuss how this information in particular can be used to estimate the internal structure of the random medium based on observations of the reflected wave.