Localization of light for dissipative and disordered one-dimensional systems

The Light transmission has been measured for a disordered binary multilayer system composed of cryolite and dissipative antimonite layers. The exponential decay of light transmission versus multilayer thickness is observed. The measured localization lengths l(c), coincide quite well with the calculated results. We find both experimentally and theoretically that the effects of absorption and disorder on the light transmission can be expressed by l(c)(-1)=l(d)(-1)+l(a)(-1) where I-d is the localization length for a corresponding disordered multilayer in the absence of absorption and l(a) the characteristic absorption length of layers.