MAGNETIC-FIELD EFFECTS ON THE LOCALIZATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC-WAVES IN RANDOM 1D SYSTEMS WHICH ARE ALMOST-PERIODIC

The effects of an externally applied magnetic field on the Anderson lo calization of electromagnetic waves in an alternating layered system o f vacuum and semiconducting slabs are studied. Specifically, a wavegui de formed from perfectly conducting parallel plates which contain betw een them an array of vacuum and n-type semiconductor slabs is examined in the presence of an external static magnetic field applied parallel to both the plates and the slab surfaces. The widths of the slabs in the array are random but with a randomness such that the array of slab s is almost periodic, and we study only electromagnetic modes which pr opagate perpendicular to the slab surfaces. The localization length is obtained by studying the reflection and transmission properties of a finite array of slabs in the limit that it becomes semi-infinite. Two types of system are treated: (i) a reciprocal system which exhibits a localization length that does not depend on the sign of the applied ma gnetic field, and (ii) a non-reciprocal system which exhibits a locali zation length that depends on the sign of the applied magnetic field.