Observation of Accelerating Wave Packets in Curved Space

We present the first experimental observation of accelerating beams in curved space. More specifically, we demonstrate, experimentally and theoretically, shape-preserving accelerating beams propagating on spherical surfaces: closed-form solutions of the wave equation manifesting nongeodesic self-sim...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Anatoly Patsyk, Miguel A. Bandres, Rivka Bekenstein, Mordechai Segev
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2018-01-01
Series:Physical Review X
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.8.011001
Description
Summary:We present the first experimental observation of accelerating beams in curved space. More specifically, we demonstrate, experimentally and theoretically, shape-preserving accelerating beams propagating on spherical surfaces: closed-form solutions of the wave equation manifesting nongeodesic self-similar evolution. Unlike accelerating beams in flat space, these wave packets change their acceleration trajectory due to the interplay between interference effects and the space curvature, and they focus and defocus periodically due to the spatial curvature of the medium in which they propagate.
ISSN:2160-3308