Related papers: Radiation Pressure on a Diffractive Sailcraft
The authors describe the general motion of radiation-pushed sails accelerated near the speed of light with directed energy propulsion. Practical applications of the model are also given, including the interstellar flyby mission to the Alpha…
Unidirectional optical systems enable selective control of light through asymmetric processing of radiation, effectively transmitting light in one direction while blocking unwanted propagation in the opposite direction. Here, we introduce a…
We present a formalism for understanding the elecromagnetism of metasurfaces, optically thin composite films with engineered diffraction. The technique, diffractive interface theory (DIT), takes explicit advantage of the small optical…
We consider a special relativistic effect, known as the Poynting-Robertson effect, on various types of trajectories of solar sails. Since this effect occurs at order $v^{\phi}/c$, where $v^{\phi}$ is the tangential speed relative to the…
Achieving relativistic flight to enable extrasolar exploration is one of the dreams of humanity and the long term goal of our NASA Starlight program. We derive a fully relativistic solution for the motion of a spacecraft propelled by…
Advanced civilizations capable of interstellar travel, if they exist, are likely to have advanced propulsion methods. Spaceships moving at high speeds would leave a particular signature which could be detected from Earth. We propose a…
We introduce a system of light driven microscopic autonomous moving particles that move on a flat surface. The design is simple, yet effective: Micrometer sized objects with wedge shape are produced by photopolymerization, they are covered…
Electromagnetic waves carry energy, linear momentum, and angular momentum. When light (or other electromagnetic radiation) interacts with material media, both energy and momentum are usually exchanged. The force and torque experienced by…
Conventional mirrors obey Snell's reflection law: a plane wave is reflected as a plane wave, at the same angle. To engineer spatial distributions of fields reflected from a mirror, one can either shape the reflector (for example, creating a…
Laser sail-based spacecraft -- where a powerful earth-based laser propels a lightweight outer-space vehicle -- have been recently proposed by the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative as a means of reaching relativistic speeds for interstellar…
We consider the problem of light transmission from a high refractive index medium into a low index environment. While total internal reflection severely limits such transmission in systems with smooth interfaces, diffractive metasurfaces…
Mediums which do not support the propagation of plane waves with negative phase velocity (NPV) when viewed at rest can support NPV propagation when they are viewed in a reference frame which is uniformly translated at sufficiently high…
Recently, there has been an explosion of interest in metalenses for imaging. The interest is primarily based on their sub-wavelength thicknesses. Diffractive lenses have been used as thin lenses since the late 19th century. Here, we show…
Because of lunar librations, the retroreflectors left on the moon do not, in general, face directly at the Earth. Usually this is regarded as a disadvantage. It results in a spread of arrival times, because each cube that comprises the…
We report on a reflective wave-plate system utilizing phase-shifting mirrors (PSM) for a continuous variation of elliptical polarization without changing the beam position and direction. The scalability of multilayer optics to large…
Nonlinear optical features of a plane structure consisted of silicon disks placed periodically on a silver substrate have been studied in the Littrow reflection scenario. The structure manifests a bistable resonant reflective ability.…
While traditional electromagnetic stealth materials/metasurfaces can render a target virtually invisible to some extent, they lack flexibility and adaptability, and can only operate within a limited frequency and angle/direction range,…
Diffractive X-ray telescopes using zone plates, phase Fresnel lenses, or related optical elements have the potential to provide astronomers with true imaging capability with resolution several orders of magnitude better than available in…
Metasurfaces enable powerful control of electromagnetic waves using subwavelength planar structures, but their deeply subwavelength periodicity typically suppresses propagating diffraction orders, which limits the number of available…
Lightsails are promising spacecraft that can traverse interstellar distances within decades via radiation-pressure propulsion from high-power lasers. The envisioned missions crucially rely on the sail being confined within the propelling…