We have investigated light propagation and Anderson localization in one-dimensional dispersive random metamaterials, focusing on the effects disorder correlation. We analyze and compare the cases where disorder is uncorrelated, totally correlated and anticorrelated. We show that the photonic gaps of the corresponding periodic structure are not completely destroyed by the presence of disorder, which leads to minima in the localization length. We demonstrate that, in the vicinities of a gap of the corresponding periodic structure, the behavior of the localization length depends crucially on the physical origin of the gap (Bragg or non-Bragg gaps). © 2012 Copyright Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).8423 The Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE),Brussels Photonics Team (B-PHOT),Brussels-Capital Region,Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO),International Commission for Optics (ICO),Ville de BruxellesLagendijk, A., Van Tiggelen, B.A., Wiersma, D.S., Fifty years of anderson localization (2009) Phys.Today, 62, pp. 24-29Liew, S.F., Cao, H., Optical properties of 1d photonic crystals with correlated and uncorrelated disorder (2010) J. Opt., 12, p. 024011Liu, Y., Zhang, X., Metamaterials: A new frontier of science and technology (2011) Chem. Soc. Rev., 40, pp. 2494-2507Mogilevtsev, D., Pinheiro, F.A., Dos Santos, R.R., Cavalcanti, S.B., Oliveira, L.E., Suppression of anderson localization of light and brewster anomalies in disordered superlattices containing a dispersive metamaterial (2010) Phys. Rev. B, 82, pp. 081105RMogilevtsev, D., Pinheiro, F.A., Dos Santos, R.R., Cavalcanti, S.B., Oliveira, L.E., Light propagation and anderson localization in disordered superlattices containing dispersive metamaterials: Effects of correlated disorder (2011) Phys. Rev. B, 84, p. 094204Reyes-Gómez, E., Bruno-Alfonso, A., Cavalcanti, S.B., Oliveira, L.E., Anderson localization and brewster anomalies in photonic disordered quasiperiodic lattices (2011) Phys. Rev. E, 84, p. 036604Asatryan, A.A., Botten, L.C., Byrne, M.A., Freilikher, V.D., Gredeskul, S.A., Shadrivov, I.V., McPhedran, R.C., Kivshar, Y.S., Suppression of anderson localization in disordered metamaterials (2007) Phys. Rev. Lett., 99, p. 193902Asatryan, A.A., Gredeskul, S.A., Botten, L.C., Byrne, M.A., Freilikher, V.D., Shadrivov, I.V., McPhedran, R.C., Kivshar, Y.S., Anderson localization of classical waves in weakly scattering metamaterials (2010) Phys. Rev. B, 81, p. 075124Asatryan, A.A., Botten, L.C., Byrne, M.A., Freilikher, V.D., Gredeskul, S.A., Shadrivov, I.V., R, C.M., Y, S.K., Transmission and anderson localization in dispersive metamaterials (2012) Phys. Rev. B, 85, p. 045122Torres-Herrera, E.J., Izrailev, F.M., Makarov, N.M., (2012) Non-conventional Anderson Localization in Bilayered Structures with Metamaterials, , e-print, arXiv:1111.3397Jiang, H., Chen, H., Li, H., Zhang, Y., Zhu, S., Omnidirectional gap and defect mode of one-dimensional photonic crystals containing negative-index materials (2003) Appl. Phys. Lett., 83, p. 5386Sheng, P., (1995) Introduction to Wave Scattering, Localization, and Mesoscopic Phenomena, , Academic, New YorkBorn, M., Wolf, E., (1980) Principles of Optics, , Cambridge University Press, CambridgeIzrailev, F.M., Makarov, N.M., Omnidirectional gap and defect mode of one-dimensional photonic crystals containing negative-index materials (2009) Phys. Rev. Lett., 102, p. 203901