Title: The generalized optical memory effect,
Abstract: The optical memory effect is a well-known type of wave correlation that is
observed in coherent fields that scatter through thin and diffusive materials,
like biological tissue. It is a fundamental physical property of scattering
media that can be harnessed for deep-tissue microscopy or 'through-the-wall'
imaging applications. Here we show that the optical memory effect is a special
case of a far more general class of wave correlation. Our new theoretical
framework explains how waves remain correlated over both space and angle when
they are jointly shifted and tilted inside scattering media of arbitrary
geometry. We experimentally demonstrate the existence of such coupled
correlations and describe how they can be used to optimize the scanning range
in adaptive optics microscopes.