Geometrical Optics Limit Research Articles

Geometrical optics limit of phonon transport in a channel of disclinations

We show that a simple model of 1D array of topological defects in a crystalline environment is able to guide acoustic waves, depending on the angle of the incident wave. We comment on a recently proposed geophysical mechanism explaining the mantle dynamics by the presence, in some crystalline materials there, of wedge disclinations.

How does light move in a generic metric-affine background?

Light is the richest information retriever for most physical systems, particularly so for astronomy and cosmology, in which gravitation is of paramount importance, and also for solid state defects and metamaterials, in which some effects can be mimicked by non-Euclidean or even non-Riemannian geometries. Thus, it is expedient to probe light motion in geometrical backgrounds alternative to that of general relativity. Here we investigate this issue in generic metric-affine theories and derive (i) the expression, in the geometrical optics (eikonal) limit, for light trajectories, showing that they still are null (extremal) geodesics and thus, in general, no longer autoparallels, (ii) a generic {formula} to obtain the relation between source (galaxy) and reception (observer) angular size (area) distances, generalizing Etherington's original distance reciprocity relation (DRR), and then applying it to two particular representative non-Riemannian geometries. First in metric-compatible, completely antisymmetric torsion geometries, the generalized DRR is not changed at all, and then in Weyl integrable spacetimes, the generalized DRR assumes a specially simple expression.

Zonal-flow dynamics from a phase-space perspective

The wave kinetic equation (WKE) describing drift-wave (DW) turbulence is widely used in the studies of zonal flows (ZFs) emerging from DW turbulence. However, this formulation neglects the exchange of enstrophy between DWs and ZFs and also ignores effects beyond the geometrical-optics limit. We derive a modified theory that takes both of these effects into account, while still treating DW quanta (“driftons”) as particles in phase space. The drifton dynamics is described by an equation of the Wigner–Moyal type, which is commonly known in the phase-space formulation of quantum mechanics. In the geometrical-optics limit, this formulation features additional terms missing in the traditional WKE that ensure exact conservation of the total enstrophy of the system, in addition to the total energy, which is the only conserved invariant in previous theories based on the WKE. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the importance of these additional terms. The proposed formulation can be considered as a phase-space representation of the second-order cumulant expansion, or CE2.

Magnetic liquids under high electric fields as broadband optical diodes

We show and give examples of how unidirectional propagation of light rays in the limit of geometric optics could arise in some magnetic fluids due to the magnetoelectric effect under weak DC magnetic fields and strong DC electric fields around half of their dielectric breakdown. For such liquids as kerosene and transformer oils, one-way propagation of light may occur for 30 nm diameter magnetic nanoparticles (e.g. cobalt) and concentrations of 2% or larger.

Envelope equation for the linear and nonlinear propagation of an electron plasma wave, including the effects of Landau damping, trapping, plasma inhomogeneity, and the change in the state of wave

This paper addresses the linear and nonlinear three-dimensional propagation of an electron wave in a collisionless plasma that may be inhomogeneous, nonstationary, anisotropic, and even weakly magnetized. The wave amplitude, together with any hydrodynamic quantity characterizing the plasma (density, temperature, etc.) is supposed to vary very little within one wavelength or one wave period. Hence, the geometrical optics limit is assumed, and the wave propagation is described by a first order differential equation. This equation explicitly accounts for three-dimensional effects, plasma inhomogeneity, Landau damping, and the collisionless dissipation and electron acceleration due to trapping. It is derived by mixing results obtained from a direct resolution of the Vlasov-Poisson system and from a variational formalism involving a nonlocal Lagrangian density. In a one-dimensional situation, abrupt transitions are predicted in the coefficients of the wave equation. They occur when the state of the electron plasma wave changes, from a linear wave to a wave with trapped electrons. In a three dimensional geometry, the transitions are smoother, especially as regards the nonlinear Landau damping rate, for which a very simple effective and accurate analytic expression is provided.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE COROTATION THEOREM ON THE MRI IN AXIAL SYMMETRY

ABSTRACT We analyze the linear stability of an axially symmetric ideal plasma disk, embedded in a magnetic field and endowed with a differential rotation. This study is performed by adopting the magnetic flux function as the fundamental dynamical variable, in order to outline the role played by the corotation theorem on the linear mode structure. Using some specific assumptions (e.g., plasma incompressibility and propagation of the perturbations along the background magnetic field), we select the Alfvénic nature of the magnetorotational instability, and, in the geometric optics limit, we determine the dispersion relation describing the linear spectrum. We show how the implementation of the corotation theorem (valid for the background configuration) on the linear dynamics produces the cancellation of the vertical derivative of the disk angular velocity (we check such a feature also in the standard vector formalism to facilitate comparison with previous literature, in both the axisymmetric and three-dimensional cases). As a result, we clarify that the unstable modes have, for a stratified disk, the same morphology, proper of a thin-disk profile, and the z-dependence has a simple parametric role.

The flexibility of optical metrics

We firstly revisit the importance, naturalness and limitations of the so-called optical metrics for describing the propagation of light rays in the limit of geometric optics. We then exemplify their flexibility and nontriviality in some nonlinear material media and in the context of nonlinear theories of the electromagnetism, both in the presence of curved backgrounds, where optical metrics could be flat and inaccessible regions for the propagation of photons could be conceived, respectively. Finally, we underline and discuss the relevance and potential applications of our analyses in a broad sense, ranging from material media to compact astrophysical systems.

Continuum radiative heat transfer modeling in multi-component anisotropic media in the limit of geometrical optics

Continuum-scale equations of radiative transfer and corresponding boundary conditions are derived for a multi-component anisotropic medium consisting of components in the range of geometrical optics. The derivations are obtained by employing the volumeaveraging theory. This study generalizes the previous derivations obtained for multi-component isotropic media.

Gravitational, shear and matter waves in Kantowski-Sachs cosmologies

A general treatment of vorticity-free, perfect fluid perturbations of Kantowski-Sachs models with a positive cosmological constant are considered within the framework of the 1+1+2 covariant decomposition of spacetime. The dynamics is encompassed in six evolution equations for six harmonic coefficients, describing gravito-magnetic, kinematic and matter perturbations, while a set of algebraic expressions determine the rest of the variables. The six equations further decouple into a set of four equations sourced by the perfect fluid, representing forced oscillations and two uncoupled damped oscillator equations. The two gravitational degrees of freedom are represented by pairs of gravito-magnetic perturbations. In contrast with the Friedmann case one of them is coupled to the matter density perturbations, becoming decoupled only in the geometrical optics limit. In this approximation, the even and odd tensorial perturbations of the Weyl tensor evolve as gravitational waves on the anisotropic Kantowski-Sachs background, while the modes describing the shear and the matter density gradient are out of phase dephased by π /2 and share the same speed of sound.

Gauge independence of the eikonal equation in Yang-Mills gravity

When one takes the geometric-optics limit of Maxwell’s wave equations in Yang-Mills gravity, one arrives at a new eikonal equation. Although we cannot perform the usual electromagnetic gauge transformation to the eikonal equation, we have the same equation for a wide class of gauge conditions, including the non-covariant temporal and axial gauges. We also show the presence of a small correction term if the large frequency limit is not taken. This small term suggests a frequency dependence in the deflection of light experiment. Moreover, there is a small violation of the electromagnetic U 1 gauge symmetry by gravity. This violation is crucial for the emergence of an effective Riemannian metric tensor associated with the new eikonal equation in Yang-Mills gravity. The results are consistent with known experiments and more accurate experiments in the future are required to test them.

Brightness of synchrotron radiation from undulators and bending magnets.

The maximum of the Wigner distribution (WD) of synchrotron radiation (SR) fields is considered as a possible definition of SR source brightness. Such a figure of merit was originally introduced in the SR community by Kim [(1986), Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 246, 71-76]. The brightness defined in this way is always positive and, in the geometrical optics limit, can be interpreted as the maximum density of photon flux in phase space. For undulator and bending magnet radiation from a single electron, the WD function can be explicitly calculated. In the case of an electron beam with a finite emittance the brightness is given by the maximum of the convolution of a single electron WD function and the probability distribution of the electrons in phase space. In the particular case when both electron beam size and electron beam divergence dominate over the diffraction size and the diffraction angle, one can use a geometrical optics approach. However, there are intermediate regimes when only the electron beam size or the electron beam divergence dominate. In these asymptotic cases the geometrical optics approach is still applicable, and the brightness definition used here yields back once more to the maximum photon flux density in phase space. In these intermediate regimes a significant numerical disagreement is found between exact calculations and the approximation for undulator brightness currently used in the literature. The WD formalism is extended to a satisfactory theory for the brightness of a bending magnet. It is found that in the intermediate regimes the usually accepted approximation for bending magnet brightness turns out to be inconsistent even parametrically.

A boundary integral formalism for stochastic ray tracing in billiards.

Determining the flow of rays or non-interacting particles driven by a force or velocity field is fundamental to modelling many physical processes. These include particle flows arising in fluid mechanics and ray flows arising in the geometrical optics limit of linear wave equations. In many practical applications, the driving field is not known exactly and the dynamics are determined only up to a degree of uncertainty. This paper presents a boundary integral framework for propagating flows including uncertainties, which is shown to systematically interpolate between a deterministic and a completely random description of the trajectory propagation. A simple but efficient discretisation approach is applied to model uncertain billiard dynamics in an integrable rectangular domain.

Absorption/Scattering of Massless Dirac Wave from Black Hole Spacetimes with Cosmic String

In this paper we investigate the scattering of massless Dirac wave from several different black hole spacetimes (i.e. the Schwarzschild black hole, the RN extremal black hole, the Schwarzschild de Sitter black hole, and the extremal Schwarzschild de Sitter black hole) which are influenced by the cosmic string, respectively. All these cases show us that the total absorption cross sections oscillate around the geometric-optical limit and decrease with linear mass density μ of the cosmic string. All of the total scattering cross sections exhibit that the main scattering angle becomes narrower for the high partial frequency wave. Due to the influence of cosmic string, the glory peak becomes wider for larger values of linear mass density μ of the cosmic string.

Exact Space-Time Gauge Symmetry of Gravity, Its Couplings and Approximate Internal Symmetries in a Total-Unified Model

The gravitational field is the manifestation of space-time translational (T_4) gauge symmetry, which enables the gravitational interaction to be unified with the strong and the electroweak interactions. Such a total-unified model is based on a generalized Yang-Mills framework in flat space-time. Following the idea of Glashow-Salam-Ward-Weinberg, we gauge the groups T_4 × (SU_3)_(color) × SU_2 × U_1 × U_(1b) on equal-footing, so that we have the total-unified gauge covariant derivative δ_μ = ∂μ - igϕ _μ^νpv + ig_sG _μ^a (λ^a/2) + ifW_μ^kt^k + if'U_μt_o + ig_bB_μ. The generators of the external T_4 group have the representation p_μ = i∂_μ, which differs from the other generators of all the other internal groups, which have constant matrix representations. Consequently, the total-unified model leads to the following new results: (a) All internal (SU_3)_(color), SU_2, U_1, and baryonic U_(1b) gauge symmetries have extremely small violations due to the gravitational interaction. (b) The T_4 gauge symmetry remains exact and dictates the universal coupling of gravitons. (c) Such a gravitational violation of internal gauge symmetries leads to modified eikonal and Hamilton-Jacobi type equations, which are obtained in the geometric-optics limit and involve effective Riemann metric tensors. (d) The rules for Feynman diagrams involving new couplings of the photon-graviton, gluon-graviton, and quark-graviton are obtained.

Light field moment imaging: comment

We comment on the recent Letter [Opt. Lett.38, 2666 (2013)10.1364/OL.38.002666], in which the authors presented an imaging technique called light field moment imaging. We wish to show that this method can be associated with transport of intensity equation at the geometric optics limit.

Formation of polarized beams in chains of dielectric spheres and cylinders

Using numerical modeling, it is shown that chains of dielectric spheres and cylinders act as polarizers. The mechanism is based on gradual filtering of periodically focused modes with a certain polarization propagating with minimal losses due to Brewster angles conditions, whereas orthogonally polarized modes are strongly attenuated. It is shown that chains of cylinders filter linearly polarized beams, whereas chains of spheres filter radially polarized beams. In the geometrical optics limit, we show that in a range of sphere refractive indices 1.68-1.80 a degree of radial polarization in excess of 0.9 can be obtained in 10-sphere-long chains.

A generalized formulation for the refractive index at the geometric-optics limit

Starting from the concept of rapidity considered as generalization of the group velocity, we establish a generalized mathematical expression for the refractive group index of a material medium with little refraction at sufficiently small wavelengths, this index becoming approximately the refractive index at the geometric-optics limit and the phase velocity being approximately equal to the group velocity at the above limit. As main result, we derive an approximate relationship for the refractive index of a medium of small refraction at the geometric-optics limit. This medium is found to be left-handed at sufficiently small wavelengths.

Minimum principles in electromagnetic scattering by small aspherical particles

We consider the question of optimal shapes, e.g., those causing minimal extinction among all shapes of equal volume. Guided by the isoperimetric property of a sphere, relevant in the geometrical optics limit of scattering by large particles, we examine an analogous question in the low frequency approximation, seeking to disentangle electric and geometric contributions. To that end, we survey the literature on shape functionals and focus on ellipsoids, giving a simple discussion of spherical optimality for the coated ellipsoidal particle. Monotonic increase with asphericity in the low frequency regime for orientation-averaged induced dipole moments and scattering cross-sections is also shown. Additional physical insight is obtained from the Rayleigh–Gans (transparent) limit and eccentricity expansions. We propose connecting low and high frequency regimes in a single minimum principle valid for all size parameters, provided that reasonable size distributions of randomly oriented aspherical particles wash out the resonances for intermediate size parameters. This proposal is further supported by the sum rule for integrated extinction.

Experimental tests on Yang-Mills gravity with accurate measurements of the deflection of light

In the geometric-optics limit, Yang-Mills gravity with space-time translational gauge symmetry predicts $\Delta \phi = 7Gm/(2R) \approx 1.53^{\prime\prime}$ for the deflection of a light ray by the sun. The result, which is about 12% smaller than that in the conventional theory, is consistent with experiments involving optical frequencies that had an accuracy of 10-20%.

Geometrical optics, electrostatics, and nanophotonic resonances in absorbing nanowire arrays

Semiconductor nanowire arrays have shown promise for next-generation photovoltaics and photodetection, but enhanced understanding of the light-nanowire interaction is still needed. Here, we study theoretically the absorption of light in an array of vertical InP nanowires by moving continuously, first from the electrostatic limit to the nanophotonic regime and then to the geometrical optics limit. We show how the absorption per volume of semiconductor material in the array can be varied by a factor of 200, ranging from 10 times weaker to 20 times stronger than in a bulk semiconductor sample.