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Design and Realization of a Novel Optically Disordered Material: A Demonstration of a Mie Glass

ICMS

J. M. Miranda-Muñoz, G. Lozano, H. Míguez Advanced Optical Materials 2017, Vol. 0, DOI: 10.1002/adom.201700025

Herein, a diffusive material presenting optical disorder isintroduced, which represents an example of a Mie glass. Comprising spherical crystalline TiO2 nanoparticles randomlydispersed in a mesoporous TiO2 matrix, it is proved that thescattering of light in this inhomogeneous solid can bepredicted in an unprecedented manner from single-particleconsiderations employing Mie theory. To that aim, a study ofthe dependence of the key parameters employed is performedto describe light propagation in random media, i.e., thescattering mean free path and the transport mean free path, asa function of the size and concentration of the sphericalinclusions based on a comparison between experimentalresults and analytical calculations. It is also demonstrated thatMie glasses enable enhanced fluorescence intensity due to acombined absorptance enhancement of the excitation lightcombined with an improved outcoupling of the emitted light.The method offers the possibility to perform a deterministicdesign for the realization of a light diffuser with tailor-madescattering properties.