On the emergence of the Green's function in the correlations of a diffuse field: pulse-echo using thermal phonons

It is shown that a diffuse field is not devoid of phase information, but has a correlation function equal to the Green's function. More specifically, the cross-correlation between diffuse signals in two transducers is very nearly equal to the direct response of one transducer to an impulse applied to the other. This is true whether the diffuse field is one that was created by a distant source, or (if the detectors are sufficiently sensitive) created by thermal fluctuations in the specimen. Here we outline and review proofs, and laboratory demonstrations, from three recent archival publications.