Near-field measurement of short-range correlation in optical waves transmitted through random media

Two-dimensional near-field images of speckle patterns formed by optical waves transmitted through a disordered porous silica glass sample are measured. The corresponding 2D intensity correlation function, C, is extracted. The subwavelength spatial resolution of near-field microscopy allows us to resolve in the spatial distribution of C the expected subwavelength oscillations and to follow their dependence on the excitation wavelength. Finally, we deduce the effective refractive index of the material by fitting the theoretical spatial dependence of C to our experimental results.