Distribution of reflection eigenvalues in many-channel chaotic cavities with absorption

The reflection matrix R=(SS)-S-dagger, with S being the scattering matrix, differs from the unit matrix when absorption is finite. Using the random matrix approach, we calculate analytically the distribution function of its eigenvalues in the limit of a large number of propagating modes in the leads attached to a chaotic cavity. The obtained result is independent of the presence of time-reversal symmetry in the system, being valid at finite absorption and arbitrary openness of the system. The particular cases of perfectly and weakly open cavities are considered in detail. An application of our results to the problem of thermal emission from random media is briefly discussed.