Anderson localization of electromagnetic waves in confined dielectric media

Anderson localization of electromagnetic waves in random arrays of dielectr ic cylinders confined within a planar metallic waveguide is studied. The di sordered dielectric medium is modeled by a system of randomly distributed t wo-dimensional electric dipoles. An effective theoretical approach based on the method of images is developed. A clear distinction between isolated lo calized waves (which exist already in finite media) and the band of localiz ed waves (which appears only in the limit of the infinite medium) is presen ted. The Anderson localization emerging in the limit of an infinite medium is observed both in finite-size scaling analysis of transmission and in the properties of the spectra of some random matrices. [S1063-651X(99)04203-8] .