Light| Light |
In General
> s.a. electromagnetism / causality
[light cone]; physical constants [speed].
* History: Early ideas –
Emission theory (light from our eyes shines upon the objects we see),
believed by Plato, Euclid and Ptolemy, and experimentally proved wrong by
al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham; 1637 – Descartes, particles; 1678 –
Huygens, waves, that slow down in refraction; 1704 – Newton, particles that
speed up in refraction (it was assumed that light waves would be longitudinal, and
did not explain polarization); 1801 – Young, waves, from interference (and
introduced idea of transverse waves); 1850 – Foucault, waves, from slowdown
in refraction; 1905 – Planck/Einstein, photons; {# Grimaldi, Herschel}.
@ General references, I: in Lightman 86, p137 ff;
Sobel 87;
Perkowitz ThSc(93)mar [beyond the blue];
Lynch & Livingston 95;
Silverman 98;
García-Matos & Torner 15;
Wiseman a1510-PS
[fundamental features that distinguish laser light from thermal light].
@ General references, II/III:
Breslin & Montwill 13;
Pathak & Ghatak a1705
[rev, classical and non-classical, and applications].
@ History: Zajonc 93;
Perkowitz 96 [and art];
Park 97;
Shea AJP(98)jul [Rømer's experiment];
Potter a0811 [Lorenz's model];
Al-Khalili bbc(09)jan [al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham];
Sparavigna IJS-a1302
[reflection and refraction in Robert Grosseteste's treatise];
Bermudez et al FMO(16)-a1506-proc;
news APS(16)jul [Fresnel's work];
Yajnik BIPA-a1905 [Sudarshan's diagonal representation];
> s.a. history of physics [electromagnetism].
@ Nature: Newton PTRS(1672),
reprinted AJP(93)feb [colors];
Young PTRS(1802) [wave theory];
> s.a. spin models.
Classical Effects and Properties
> s.a. aharonov-bohm effect; diffraction;
interference; optics; phase;
polarization; radiation.
* Talbot effect: The repeated
self-imaging of a diffraction grating, reported in 1836 by Henry Fox Talbot,
rediscovered by Lord Rayleigh in 1881; Explained by near-field interference
[@ news pw(01)jun].
@ Orbital angular momentum:
Allen et al PRA(92);
Leach et al PRL(02);
Padgett et al PT(04)may;
Tiwari qp/06;
Vitullo et al PRL(17)-a1607;
> s.a. doppler effect.
@ Related topics: NS(90)sep1, 40-44 [rainbows];
Harris CP(95) [interference and fluctuations, speckle];
Sanz & Miret-Artés JChemP(07)qp [Talbot effect in quantum mechanics, in terms of Bohmian mechanics];
Götte et al PRS(07) [dragging by a rotating medium].
> Related topics: see Caustics;
Coherence; energy-momentum tensor;
Rabi Model [coupling to matter]; Rainbow;
thermodynamic systems [thermal light].
Anomalous Propagation > s.a. dispersion;
photon; wave phenomena.
* Scharnhorst effect:
Superluminal propagation in matter obtained by suppressing vacuum modes
(> see casimir effect).
* Slowdown: 1997, 17 m/s
in BEC; 2000, 1 mph in BEC; 2001, Light effectively slowed down to
vg = 0, its information stored
in collective spin states of a dilute Rb gas, with the possibility of reading
it out later; However, most light packets lose their shape when their speed
is decreased, which limits their applicability in telecommunications; 2004,
optical solitons made to move at 10−6 c.
* Standstill: 2002, Achieved in crystals,
can be useful for high-density information storage for quantum computing.
@ Superluminal:
Valentini PLA(89);
news Nat(90)mar; Scharnhorst
PLB(90);
Barton PLB(90);
Wang et al Nat(00)jul;
Jackson et al PRA(01)phy/00;
Shore gq/03-proc,
NPB(07)ht [from quantum field theory effects];
Chen et al PRA(08)-a0807 [control];
Cialdi et al NJP(09)-a0904 [single photon];
news(11)jul,
sci(11)aug;
Weinstein a1203 [discussion between Einstein and Wien];
> s.a. Superluminal Propagation.
@ Slowdown:
Vestergaard Hau et al Nat(99)feb [17 m/s in BEC];
Fiurasek et al PRA(02)qp/00;
Phillips et al PRL(01)
+ pn(01)jan;
news pn(07)may.
@ Standstill, storage: Vestergaard Hau SA(01)jul;
Bajcsy et al Nat(03)qp [pulses in Rb];
Tanji et al PRL(09)
+ Laurat Phy(09)jul
[and quantum information networks];
Havey CP(09)
[in ultracold and high-density atomic gases];
de Riedmatten Phy(13),
Heinze et al PRL(13)
+ news ns(13)jul [long-term storage];
Wiersma Phy(15)jun [trapping in Lieb lattices];
> s.a. photon.
@ Accelerating beams:
news pw(12)nov [light following curved trajectories in free space];
Bekenstein et al PRX(14) [accelerating wave packets in curved space].
Other Propagation Effects
> s.a. black-hole analogs [optical]; gravitational
phenomenology; photon phenomenology; Reflection;
refraction.
* Speed: Notice that
the invariance of the speed of light only applies to plane waves;
Spatial structure in a beam can reduce the speed even in vacuum.
@ Various materials:
Neutze & Stedman PRA(98) [accelerating media];
Ward CP(99) [photonic materials];
Novello & Salim PRD(01) [non-linear dielectric, effective metric];
Michinel et al PRE(02)
+ pn(02)jul ["light droplets"];
Ramakrishna & Armour AJP(03)jun-cm/02 [absorbing media];
Li & Sun CTP(06)qp/05 [3+1-level atoms];
Garanovich et al PRP(12) [in modulated photonic lattices];
Popoff et al PRL(14) [control of light transmission through disordered media].
@ Inhomogeneous:
Piwnicki IJMPA(02) [geometrical].
@ Scattering:
Lagendijk & van Tiggelen PRP(96) [multiple];
Berman CP(08) [by atoms and vapors];
Bini et al EPL(13)-a1408 [by radiation fields];
Liu Phy(19) [superscattering, with metamaterial].
@ Interaction with matter: Baragiola PhD-a1408;
López Carreño & Laussy PRA(16)-a1601 [quantum light and harmonic oscillators].
@ In curved spacetime: Batic et al PRD(15)-a1412 [deflection angle, lensing, bound states];
Mannheim a2105 [light rays do not always follow null geodesics];
> s.a. electromagnetism in curved spacetimes; lensing;
matter and radiation near black holes; perturbed FLRW.
@ Gravitational interactions: Faraoni & Dumse GRG(99)gq/98;
Kopeikin & Korobkov in(14)gq/05 [propagation in the field of radiative gravitational multipoles];
Vilasi et al CQG(11)-a1009 [with gravity as a wave and as a particle];
Rätzel et al NJP(16)-a1511 [gravitational field of a laser pulse].
@ In cosmology:
Ellis et al CQG(98) [lensing and caustic effects];
Mustapha et al CQG(98) [distance-redshift];
More et al ApJ(09)-a0810 [transparency];
Räsänen JCAP(09)-a0812,
JCAP(10)-a0912 [clumping and distance-redshift];
Maziashvili PRD(12)-a1206 [stochastic background, and light incoherence rate];
Fleury a1511-PhD [inhomogeneous and anisotropic cosmologies];
> s.a. averaging in cosmology.
@ Related topics: Punzi et al CQG(09)-a0711 [in area-metric background];
Giovannini et al Sci(15)feb-a1411 [speed v < c in free space].
> Gravity-related topics: see doubly
special relativity; observational cosmology [birefringence];
tests of general relativity with light.
Quantum Aspects
> s.a. photons; QED.
* History: The theoretical
basis for the full quantum characterization of light was introduced by
Glauber in 1963.
* Description: As shown by
Białynicki-Birula, optics also admits a hydrodynamical formulation
in terms of photon trajectories when the existence of a wave function
for photons is assumed, analogous to the pilot-wave description of the
behavior of massive particles.
@ General references: Glauber PR(63);
Brańczyk et al JOSA(17)-a1605 [thermal light as a mixture of sets of pulses];
Kedia et al a1706 [knotted states];
Bradler et al a1810 [quantum states and graph isomorphism];
Tsang CP(19)-a1906 [tackling the diffraction limit and photon shot noise].
@ Coupling to matter: Sørensen & Sørensen PRA(08)-a0711,
Hammerer et al RMP(10)-a0807 [ensemble of identical atoms];
Picón et al NJP(10)-a1005 [and atoms, angular momentum exchange];
De Liberato PRL(14)-a1308 [strong-coupling regime with matter];
Lachman et al SRep-a1605 [from many independent emitters];
Salasnich 17 [and matter];
Obšil et al a1705 [from a large number of trapped ions];
Zubizarreta et al LPR(20)-a1901 [photon statistics];
Karnieli et al a2011
[light emission and quantum electrodynamics].
@ Non-classical nature: Steudle et al PRA(12)-a1107 [experiment];
Dodel et al Quant(17)-a1611 [witnessing with the human eye].
@ Degree of non-classicality: Mraz et al PRA(14);
Kühn & Vogel PRA(14);
Lee et al PRA(16)-a1606;
> s.a. Coherence.
> Specific aspects: see localization;
photon phenomenology [including entanglement];
quantum-gravity effects; radiation.
> Related topics: see Chemical
Potential; Hanbury Brown-Twiss Effect; quantum
chaos; Solid Light; Superfluids;
Wave-Particle Duality.
Applications > s.a. earth [atmospheric optics];
optical technology [including lasers]; Spectroscopy.
@ Colors: Weinberg GRG(76);
Pease AJP(80)nov [RL];
Rossotti 88; Perkowitz ThSc(91)may;
Gage 93, 99;
Nassau 01;
Kentsis phy/05 [Goethe's theory];
Sparavigna IJS(14)-a1212 [Robert Grosseteste on the nature of colors];
Mota & Lopes dos Santos PhysEd(14) [additive and subtractive mixtures];
Woolfson 16 [popularization].
@ Art: Rossing & Chiaverina 99 [II, introductory physics for visual arts];
Taft & Mayer 00 [painting].
@ Other practical aspects:
Woolfson 11 [imaging].
> Online resources:
see lightsources.org website.
main page
– abbreviations
– journals – comments
– other sites – acknowledgements
send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – modified 18 may 2021