  Anderson localization of classical waves in disordered media is a fundamental
physical phenomenon that has attracted attention in the past three decades.
More recently, localization of polar excitations in nanostructured
metal-dielectric films (also known as random planar composite) has been subject
of intense studies. Potential applications of planar composites include local
near-field microscopy and spectroscopy. A number of previous studies have
relied on the quasistatic approximation and a direct analogy with localization
of electrons in disordered solids. Here I consider the localization problem
without the quasistatic approximation. I show that localization of polar
excitations is characterized by algebraic rather than by exponential spatial
confinement. This result is also valid in two and three dimensions. I also show
that the previously used localization criterion based on the gyration radius of
eigenmodes is inconsistent with both exponential and algebraic localization. An
alternative criterion based on the dipole participation number is proposed.
Numerical demonstration of a localization-delocalization transition is given.
Finally, it is shown that, contrary to the previous belief, localized modes can
be effectively coupled to running waves.

Optics;Computational Physics