On Madelung systems in nonlinear optics: A reciprocal invariance

Abstract

The role of the de Broglie-Bohm potential, originally established as central to Bohmian quantum mechanics, is examined for two canonical Madelung systems in nonlinear optics. In a seminal case, a Madelung system derived by Wagner et al. via the paraxial approximation and in which the de Broglie-Bohm potential is present is shown to admit a multi-parameter class of what are here introduced as “q-gaussons.” In the limit, as the Tsallis parameter q → 1, the q-gaussons are shown to lead to standard gausson solitons, as admitted by the logarithmic nonlinear Schrödinger equation encapsulating the Madelung system. The q-gaussons are obtained for optical media with dual power-law refractive index. In the second case, a Madelung system originally derived via an eikonal approximation in the context of laser beam propagation and in which the de Broglie Bohm term is neglected is shown to admit invariance under a novel class of two-parameter class of reciprocal transformations. Model optical laws analogous to the celebrated Kármán-Tsien law of classical gas dynamics are introduced.