How specular are diffuse reflectors?

Question

I understand the primary difference between the two being that in the former, the light rays at a point is regularly reflected while in the latter, each point throws of light in all directions.

But since the principle of least time must hold, any single point on the screen can reflect light coming from a fixed point in one direction only, right? So I imagine diffuse reflector to be made of super-small mirrors, and these are angled in every which way, spanning all directions in very close vicinities so that at a small point (not strictly the geometric sized point), macroscopically, the light falling is reflected everywhere. But is this thinking correct? And if it is, does it not mean that there is a certain resolution of diffuse reflectors/screens?

PS: Is the specularity solely a property of microscopic regularity or is it something to do with materials too?

Answer 1

After stumbling about a bit on the net, I found that the light stumbles near the surface multiple times, and the premise of the question itself is based on a faulty understanding of the process of diffuse reflection.

Here is the Wikipedia link. Instead of the cause of diffuse reflection being irregular, and hence, randomly angled points, it is a property of the first few layers, which juggle and toss light, repeatedly causing refractions and reflections in the vicinity, ultimately causing the light to emanate in all directions from that point (or at least, from nearby). Hence, in ideal diffuse reflection, a single point does throw light in multiple directions.