Negative radiation pressure and negative effective refractive index via dielectric birefringence

Jonathan Nemirovsky,Mikael C Rechtsman,Mordechai Segev

doi:10.1364/oe.20.008907

Abstract

We show that light guided in a planar dielectric slab geometry incorporating a biaxial medium has lossless modes with group and phase velocities in opposite directions. Particles in a vacuum gap inserted into the structure experience negative radiation pressure: the particles are pulled by light rather than pushed by it. This effectively one-dimensional dielectric structure represents a new geometry for achieving negative radiation pressure in a wide range of frequencies with minimal loss. Moreover, this geometry provides a straightforward platform for experimentally resolving the Abrahams-Minkowski dilemma.

Highlights

We propose a slabwaveguide structure exhibiting perhaps the four most important criteria to achieve the Negative radiation pressure (NRP) effect: (1) the structure contains backward modes within a large range of frequencies; (2) to accommodate the particles, a large air gap can be fabricated within the structure without eliminating the backward modes; (3) the structure can be fabricated from a wide range of material constituents; and (4) the structure contains only transparent dielectric materials, meaning that it exhibits very low losses
The waveguide geometry we propose comprises both uniaxial and biaxial dielectric materials
Instead of gap in bulk biaxial dielectrics, we propose the slab-waveguide geometry sketched in Fig. 2(b), in which NRP can be achieved inside the hole in the structure

Summary

Introduction

N. Christodoulides, “Reverse optical forces in negative index dielectric waveguide arrays,” Opt. Lett. Negative radiation pressure (NRP), the pulling of particles using light, was proposed by Veselago [1] in his pioneering paper on materials with negative refractive index.

Results

Conclusion