Experimental verification of light localization for disordered multilayers in the visible-infrared spectrum

We have measured the light localization length for a disordered binary multilayer system, which we have prepared by alternating layers of antimonite and cryolite. The thicknesses of the cryolite layers are all the same, while those of antimonite vary randomly around an average value. The degree of disorder is given by the average fluctuation of thicknesses. The exponential decay of transmission intensity of light with the length of the multilayer is demonstrated experimentally. The localization lengths, the characteristic length of this exponential decay, are derived from experimental data in the wavelength region 720--900 nm for a fixed degree of disorder. The localization lengths at different incident wavelengths are computed by transfer-matrix approach. The agreement between the experimental measurements and the calculations is good.