Related papers: Curving the Trajectory of Light in Refraction Inde…

Light transfer in gradient-index media generally follows curved ray trajectories, which will cause light beam to converge or diverge during transfer and induce the rotation of polarization ellipse even when the medium is transparent.…

We study the transformation of an OAM-carrying beam propagating through a vertical gradient of refractive index present in a water-ethanol column. Proper liquid mixing and incidence conditions upon the solution cause the beam to undergo a…

The double diffraction of white light can produce a thin-prism-like image in certain conditions by using ordinary diffraction gratings. The diffractive deviation of rays happens mainly in one direction because the diffracting elements are…

A popular pedagogical approach for introducing diffraction is to assume normal incidence of light on a single slit or a plane transmission grating. Interesting cases of diffraction from a grating at orientations other than normal incidence…

It is well known that the trajectory of a light beam can curve if the medium in which the beam propagates is inhomogeneous or if the local spacetime is curved. In this paper we present a third possibility and show that a properly-prepared…

Propagation and tunneling of light through photonic barriers formed by thin dielectric films with continuous curvilinear distributions of dielectric susceptibility across the film, are considered. Giant heterogeneity-induced dispersion of…

Propagation and tunneling of light through subwavelength photonic barriers, formed by dielectric layers with continuous spatial variations of dielectric susceptibility across the film are considered. Effects of giant heterogeneity-induced…

In this article, we follow the trajectory of a photon in the human cornea. Prior to experimental evidence of the cornea's gradient refractive index (GRIN) nature, schematic eye models used a constant or average as the corneal refractive…

We analyse the optical (or microwave) tunnelling properties of electromagnetic waves passing through thin films presenting a specific index profile providing a cut-off frequency, when they are used below this frequency. We show that…

A light ray in space is characterized by two vectors: (i) a transverse spatial-vector associated with the point where the ray intersects a given spherical cap; (ii) an angular-frequency vector which defines the ray direction of propagation.…

The properties of light in the presence of electromagnetic and gravitational fields are compared. Once one takes account of the fact that clock rates vary with distance from a massive object, it is argued that in an absolute sense light…

Light propagating in a moving medium with refractive index other than unity is subject to light drag. While the light drag effect due to the linear refractive index is often negligibly small, it can be enhanced in materials with a large…

A light beam changes direction as it enters a liquid at an angle from another medium, such as air. Should the liquid contain molecules that lack mirror symmetry, then it has been predicted by Fresnel that the light beam will not only change…

Desert mirages were simulated in the laboratory by heating a flat surface of sand. This showed that a boundary layer of air, of only a few millimeters immediately covering a heated surface has nearly the same thickness over a wide range of…

General Relativity describes the trajectories of light-rays through curved spacetime near a massive object. In addition to gravitational lensing, we include an absorbing dielectric medium given by a complex refractive index known as the…

Light transport in graded index media follows a curved trajectory determined by the Fermat's principle. Besides the effect of variation of the refractive index on the transport of radiative intensity, the curved ray trajectory will induce…

A critical review of experimental studies of the so-called 'slow light' arising due to anomalously high steepness of the refractive index dispersion under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency or coherent population…

We consider a linearly polarized electromagnetic wave incident on an opaque screen with square aperture of edge a. An application of Faraday's law to a loop parallel to the screen, on the side away from the source, shows that the wave must…

A series of thin layers of alternating refractive index is known to make a good optical mirror over certain bands of frequency. Such a device - often termed the Bragg reflector - is usually introduced to students within the first years of…

Using experiments and theory, we show that light scattering by inhomogeneities in the index of refraction of a fluid can drive a large-scale flow. The experiment uses a near-critical, phase-separated liquid, which experiences large…