dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaNon-Abelian evolution of electromagnetic waves in a weakly anisotropic inhomogeneous medium
| Authors | K. Yu. Bliokh, D. Yu. Frolov, Yu. A. Kravtsov |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0701213 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701213 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.75.053821 |
| Journal | Phys.Rev.A75:053821,2007 |
Abstract
A theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in a weakly anisotropic smoothly inhomogeneous medium is developed, based on the quantum-mechanical diagonalization procedure applied to Maxwell equations. The equations of motion for the translational (ray) and intrinsic (polarization) degrees of freedom are derived ab initio. The ray equations take into account the optical Magnus effect (spin Hall effect of photons) as well as trajectory variations owing to the medium anisotropy. Polarization evolution is described by the precession equation for the Stokes vector. In generic case, the evolution of waves turns out to be non-Abelian: it is accompanied by mutual conversion of the normal modes and periodic oscillations of the ray trajectories analogous to electron zitterbewegung. The general theory is applied to examples of wave evolution in media with circular and linear birefringence.
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"abstract": "A theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in a weakly anisotropic smoothly\ninhomogeneous medium is developed, based on the quantum-mechanical\ndiagonalization procedure applied to Maxwell equations. The equations of motion\nfor the translational (ray) and intrinsic (polarization) degrees of freedom are\nderived ab initio. The ray equations take into account the optical Magnus\neffect (spin Hall effect of photons) as well as trajectory variations owing to\nthe medium anisotropy. Polarization evolution is described by the precession\nequation for the Stokes vector. In generic case, the evolution of waves turns\nout to be non-Abelian: it is accompanied by mutual conversion of the normal\nmodes and periodic oscillations of the ray trajectories analogous to electron\nzitterbewegung. The general theory is applied to examples of wave evolution in\nmedia with circular and linear birefringence.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0701213",
"authors": [
"K. Yu. Bliokh",
"D. Yu. Frolov",
"Yu. A. Kravtsov"
],
"categories": [
"physics.optics",
"cond-mat.other",
"physics.plasm-ph",
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.75.053821",
"journal_ref": "Phys.Rev.A75:053821,2007",
"title": "Non-Abelian evolution of electromagnetic waves in a weakly anisotropic inhomogeneous medium",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701213"
},
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