Related papers: Geometrical optics in phase space
Geometrical optics (GO) is often used to model wave propagation in weakly inhomogeneous media and quantum-particle motion in the semiclassical limit. However, GO predicts spurious singularities of the wavefield near reflection points and,…
Ray optics is an intuitive and computationally efficient model for wave propagation through nonuniform media. However, the underlying geometrical-optics (GO) approximation of ray optics breaks down at caustics, erroneously predicting the…
The design and optimization of radiofrequency-wave systems for fusion applications is often performed using ray-tracing codes, which rely on the geometrical-optics (GO) approximation. However, GO fails at wave cutoffs and caustics. To…
The optimization of radiofrequency-wave (RF) systems for fusion experiments is often performed using ray-tracing codes, which rely on the geometrical-optics (GO) approximation. However, GO fails at caustics such as cutoffs and focal points,…
As an approximate theory that is highly regarded for its computational efficiency, geometrical optics (GO) is widely used for modeling waves in various areas of physics. However, GO fails at caustics, which significantly limits its…
The WKB approximation of geometrical optics is widely used in plasma physics, quantum mechanics and reduced wave modeling in general. However, it is well-known that the approximation breaks down at focal and turning points. In this work we…
Geometrical optics (GO) is widely used in studies of electromagnetic materials because of its ease of use compared to full-wave numerical simulations. Exact solutions for waves can, however, differ significantly from the GO approximation.…
Even when neglecting diffraction effects, the well-known equations of geometrical optics (GO) are not entirely accurate. Traditional GO treats wave rays as classical particles, which are completely described by their coordinates and…
Metaplectic geometrical optics (MGO) is a recently developed ray-tracing framework to accurately compute the wavefield behavior near a caustic (turning point or focal point), where traditional ray-tracing breaks down. However, MGO has thus…
Waves play an essential role in many aspects of plasma science, such as plasma manipulation and diagnostics. Due to the complexity of the governing equations, approximate models are often necessary to describe wave dynamics. In this…
Geometric-optical illusions (GOI) are a subclass of a vast variety of visual illusions. A special class of GOIs originates from the superposition of a simple geometric figure ("target") with an array of non-intersecting curvilinear elements…
We formulate scalar field theories coupled non-conformally to gravity in a manifestly frame-independent fashion. Physical quantities such as the $S$ matrix should be invariant under field redefinitions, and hence can be represented by the…
In the last ten years, the technology of differential geometry, ubiquitous in gravitational physics, has found its place in the field of optics. It has been successfully used in the design of optical metamaterials, through a technique now…
Gravitational wave (GW) astronomy offers the potential to probe the wave-optics regime of gravitational lensing. Wave optics (WO) effects are relevant at low frequencies, when the wavelength is comparable to the characteristic lensing time…
Precise modeling of extended sources is a central challenge in modern optical engineering, laser physics, and computational lithography. Unlike ideal point sources or completely incoherent thermal radiation sources, real-world light sources…
We consider how transformation optics and invisibility cloaking can be used to construct models in subsets $\mathbb{R}^3$ with a varying metric, where the time-harmonic waves for a given angular wavenumber $k$, are equivalent to the waves…
Gravitational lensing of electromagnetic (EM) waves has yielded many profound discoveries across fundamental physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology. Similar to EM waves, gravitational waves (GWs) can also be lensed. When their…
We present some new derivations of the effect of a plane gravitational wave on a light ray. A simple interpretation of the results is that a gravitational wave causes a phase modulation of electromagnetic waves. We arrive at this picture…
The geometrical-optics expansion reduces the problem of solving wave equations to one of solving transport equations along rays. Here we consider scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational waves propagating on a curved spacetime in general…
The basic laws of geometrical optics can be deduced from energy-momentum conservation for electromagnetic waves, without other wave concepts. However, the concept of quanta is required; it arises naturally, hence such a hypothesis could…