Pseudo-Cyclic Enhancement Mechanisms in a Discrete Random Halfspace

Wave-theoretic predictions can exhibit discrepancies from radiative transfer theory in random media where stable interference patterns arise from multiple-scatter effects. In unbounded media, these discrepancies are attributed to so-called cyclic scatter mechanisms where the correlation of forward and reversed multiple scatter sequences causes an enhancement in the backscattered intensity. In bounded media, similar pseudo-cyclic mechanisms involving boundary interactions give rise to backscatter and specular enhancements. Here, the lowest-order enhancement mechanisms for scalar waves in a discrete random halfspace are described in closed-form using the distorted Born approximation.