Related papers: Optical helicity of interfering waves
Light is known to exhibit quantum uncertainty in terms of its amplitude, phase, and polarization. However, quantum uncertainty related to coherence, which is also a fundamental physical property of light, has not been considered to date.…
The effect of helicity (velocity-vorticity correlations) is studied in direct numerical simulations of rotating turbulence down to Rossby numbers of 0.02. The results suggest that the presence of net helicity plays an important role in the…
Gravitational lensing in wave optics is a rich field combining caustic singularities, general relativity and interference phenomena. We present a detailed evaluation of wave optics effects resulting from the frame-dragging of a rotating…
We put forward the physical meaning of the conservation equation for the helicity on scattering of an electromagnetic field with a generally magnetodielectric bi-isotropic dipolar object. This is the optical theorem for the helicity that,…
Helicity $H$, chirality $C$, and spin angular momentum $\mathbf{S}$ are three physical observables that play an important role in the study of optical fields. These quantities are closely related, but their connection is hidden by the use…
The optical medium analogy of a radiation field generated by either an exact gravitational plane wave or an exact electromagnetic wave in the framework of general relativity is developed. The equivalent medium of the associated background…
Light displays particle and wave properties within the bounds of the inequality, K^2+V^2<=1, where K represents particle information and V represents corresponding wave information. Using two laser beams that cross and then diverge from…
A brief overview of the current state of the problem of electromagnetic field singularities arising from the refraction and scattering of light by material objects is given. The discussion begins with caustics arising from ray tracing in…
A technique is presented for treating strongly nonstationary and transient processes in optics, permitting one to take into account both types of competing with each other effects, quantum as well as coherent. The main equations for…
The influence of static gravitational field on frequency, wave-length and velocity of photons and on the energy levels of atoms and nuclei is considered in the most elementary way. The interconnection between these phenomena is stressed.
As any physical object, light undergoing a circular trajectory features a constant extrinsic angular momentum. Within strong curvatures, this angular momentum can match the spin momentum of a photon, thus providing the opportunity of a…
The classical phenomenon of the redshift of light in a static gravitational potential, usually called the gravitational redshift, is described in the literature essentially in two ways: on the one hand the phenomenon is explained through…
In order to make plausible the idea that light exerts a pressure on matter, some introductory physics texts consider the force exerted by an electromagnetic wave on an electron. The argument as presented is both mathematically incorrect and…
The interactions of gravitons with matter are calculated in parallel with the familiar photon case. It is shown that graviton scattering amplitudes can be factorized into a product of familiar electromagnetic forms, and cross sections for…
The asymmetrical path interference test of light is put forward in the paper. In the test, two different results would arise under the same experimental conditions if light is regarded as wave or particle. Therefore, the test can help us to…
I present a simple view of nonlinear optcal phenomena as being determined mostly by the length of interaction time between photons and matter. This may explain why in the last decades the progress in developing better nonlinear materials…
The well-known effects of the spin-orbit interaction of light are manifestations of pair mutual influence of the three types of the angular momentum of light, namely, the spin angular momentum, the extrinsic orbital angular momentum and the…
By considering the irreducible representations of the Lorentz group, an analysis of the different spin-2 waves is presented. In particular, the question of the helicity is discussed. It is concluded that, although from the point of view of…
The nature of intrinsic/extrinsic character of angular momentum is defined in terms of the kind of the associated rotational energy of the light. The salient features of the spin energy of light and photon are highlighted. Spin angular…
Superfluidity, the ability of a fluid to move without dissipation, is one of the most spectacular manifestations of the quantum nature of matter. We explore here the possibility of superfluid motion of light. Controlling the speed of a…