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Topic · Acoustics and Ultrasonics

Random lasers and scattering media

Random lasers and scattering media is a research topic within Acoustics and Ultrasonics. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1951. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the control and manipulation of light waves in complex and disordered media, including random lasers, ghost imaging, Anderson localization, wavefront shaping, and single-pixel imaging. It investigates techniques for focusing coherent light through opaque and strongly scattering materials, as well as non-invasive imaging through scattering layers and around corners via speckle correlations.

  • Random Lasers
  • Light Propagation
  • Scattering Media
  • Ghost Imaging
  • Anderson Localization
  • Wavefront Shaping
  • Single-Pixel Imaging
  • Optical Fiber
  • Deep Learning
  • Transmission Matrix
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+23%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
55% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Random lasers and scattering media

Which countries lead Random lasers and scattering media research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.3k and 355 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.3k works
  2. 2 United States 355 works
  3. 3 France 125 works
  4. 4 Germany 101 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 97 works
  6. 6 Japan 94 works
  7. 7 Russia 89 works
  8. 8 India 87 works
  9. 9 South Korea 63 works
  10. 10 Italy 63 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 54.5%United States: 15.0%France: 5.3%Germany: 4.3%6 others listed: 20.9%55%largest
China1,288 · 54.5%United States355 · 15.0%France125 · 5.3%Germany101 · 4.3%6 others listed493 · 20.9%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Random lasers and scattering media research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Random lasers and scattering media research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Beijing Institute of Technology.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 101 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 62 works
  3. 3 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 39 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 29 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 29 works
  6. 6 Tsinghua UniversityChina 28 works
  7. 7 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 26 works
  8. 8 Zhejiang UniversityChina 25 works
  9. 9 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 24 works
  10. 10 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 23 works

Who are the leading researchers in Random lasers and scattering media?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Random lasers and scattering media include Wei Huang, Ben Zhong Tang and Kenji Watanabe.

  1. 1 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  2. 2 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  3. 3 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  4. 4 Lei Jiang China 214k citations
  5. 5 Xin Wu France 165k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Random lasers and scattering media?

The most cited paper in Random lasers and scattering media is "Strong localization of photons in certain disordered dielectric superlattices" (Sajeev John, 1987), with 10,049 citations. Next come "Single-pixel imaging via compressive sampling" (3,637) and "Anomalous transit-time dispersion in amorphous solids" (3,122).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Strong localization of photons in certain disordered dielectric superlattices Sajeev John · Physical Review Letters Open access 8 Jun 1987 10,049
2 Single-pixel imaging via compressive sampling Marco F. Duarte, Mark A. Davenport, Dharmpal Takhar et al. · IEEE Signal Processing Magazine Mar 2008 3,637
3 Anomalous transit-time dispersion in amorphous solids H. Scher, Elliott W. Montroll · Physical review. B, Solid state 15 Sep 1975 3,122
4 Observation of electromagnetically induced transparency Klaus J. Boller, Ataç İmamoğlu, Stephen E. Harris · Physical Review Letters Open access 20 May 1991 3,074
5 Electrical resistance of disordered one-dimensional lattices Rolf W. Landauer · Philosophical magazine Apr 1970 3,066
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Random lasers and scattering media research done?

The largest centres of Random lasers and scattering media research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Xi'an (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Taiyuan and Hefei.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 257 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 90 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 73 works
  4. 4 Xi'anChina 65 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 63 works
  6. 6 ParisFrance 60 works
  7. 7 ChengduChina 60 works
  8. 8 HefeiChina 57 works
  9. 9 ChangshaChina 49 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 45 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TaiyuanCN · 30.9 works6.5×
  2. HefeiCN · 57.4 works5.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Random lasers and scattering media than the world average.

See Random lasers and scattering media on the map

Where is the best place to study Random lasers and scattering media?

Among universities, judged by research, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of California, Los Angeles and Tsinghua University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 17.93%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Califo…Hong Kong Polytechni…Tsinghua UniversityBeijing Institute of…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 79.224.3%10.8×23 +46.6%
2University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 69.530.5%5.1×14 +161.4%
3Tsinghua UniversityChina 65.719.5%5.0×28 +46.2%
4Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 64.410.5%13.6×39 +46.7%
5Taiyuan University of TechnologyChina 62.922.9%12.3×12 +211.0%
6University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 62.813.9%7.1×28 +52.5%
7Hefei University of TechnologyChina 60.022.6%9.7×13 +161.8%
8University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 57.112.6%7.8×23 +53.2%
9Université Paris Sciences et LettresFrance 52.511.6%13.0×12 +11.3%
10Zhejiang UniversityChina 52.410.9%3.8×25 +111.3%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Random lasers and scattering media, country by country

Is Random lasers and scattering media research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 23% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Random lasers and scattering media.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Random lasers and scattering media as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.011% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Random lasers and scattering media0.012% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Random lasers and scattering media over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Random lasers and scattering media9.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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