Statistics of partially coherent beams: a numerical analysis

We show that by using Monte Carlo simulations, one can study the characteristics of beams with adjustable spatial coherence properties that propagate through highly scattering media. Moreover, we show that a single simulation is sufficient to obtain the intensity distribution at the exit surface of the scattering medium for any degree of global coherence of the input beam. The efficient numerical procedure correctly reproduces the first- and second-order statistics of the intensity distribution obtained after propagation through diffusive media.