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While controlling particle diffusion in a confined geometry is a popular approach taken by both natural and artificial systems, it has not been widely adopted for controlling light transport in random media, where wave interference effects play a critical role. The transmission eigenchannels determine not only light propagation through the disordered system but also the energy concentrated inside. Here, we propose and demonstrate an effective approach to modify these channels, whose structures are considered to be universal in conventional diffusive waveguides. By adjusting the waveguide geometry, we are able to alter the spatial profiles of the transmission eigenchannels significantly and deterministically from the universal ones. In addition, evanescent channels may be converted to propagating channels by gradually increasing the waveguide cross-section. Our approach allows to control not only the transmitted and reflected light, but also the depth profile of energy density inside the scattering system. In particular geometries, perfect reflection channels are created, and their large penetration depth into the turbid medium as well as the complete return of probe light to the input end would greatly benefit sensing and imaging applications. Absorption along with geometry can be further employed for tuning the decay length of energy flux inside the random system, which cannot be achieved in a common waveguide with uniform cross-section. Our approach relies solely on confined geometry and does not require any modification of intrinsic disorder, thus it is applicable to a variety of systems and also to other types of waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate an effective approach of modifying the long-range spatial correlation for light propagating inside random photonic waveguides by varying the shape of the waveguide. The functional form of spatial correlation is no longer universal in the regime of diffusive transport and becomes shape dependent due to the nonlocal nature of wave propagation. The spatial dependence of the correlation may become asymmetric for light incident from opposite ends of the waveguide. This work opens the door to control nonlocal effects in mesoscopic transport of waves by tailoring the geometry of random systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate in open microcavities with broken chiral symmetry that quasidegenerate pairs of copropagating-wave resonances are transformed by rotation to counterpropagating ones, leading to a striking change of emission directions. The rotation-induced relative change in output intensity increases exponentially with cavity size, in contrast to the linear scaling of the Sagnac effect. By tuning the degree of spatial chirality with cavity shape, we are able to maximize the emission sensitivity to rotation without spoiling the quality factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the direct observation of the development of long-range spatial intensity correlation and the growth of intensity fluctuations inside random media. We fabricated quasi-two-dimensional disordered photonic structures and probed light transport from a third dimension. Good agreement between experiment and theory is obtained. We were able to manipulate the long-range intensity correlation and intensity fluctuations inside the disordered waveguides by simply varying the waveguide geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate experimentally the efficient control of light intensity distribution inside a random scattering system. The adaptive wave front shaping technique is applied to a silicon waveguide containing scattering nanostructures, and the on-chip coupling scheme enables access to all input spatial modes. By selectively coupling the incident light to the open or closed channels of the disordered system, we not only vary the total energy stored inside the system by a factor of 7.4, but also change the energy density distribution from an exponential decay to a linear decay and to a profile peaked near the center. This work provides an on-chip platform for controlling light-matter interactions in turbid media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present direct experimental evidence for position-dependent diffusion in open random media. The interference of light in time-reversed paths results in renormalization of the diffusion coefficient, which varies spatially. To probe the wave transport inside the system, we fabricate two-dimensional disordered waveguides and monitor the light intensity from the third dimension. Change the geometry of the system or dissipation limits the size of the loop trajectories, allowing us to control the renormalization of the diffusion coefficient. This work shows the possibility of manipulating wave diffusion via the interplay of localization and dissipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]