Subluminal and superluminal parametric doppler effects in the case of light reflection from a moving smooth medium inhomogeneity

The reflection of test radiation from a smooth inhomogeneity of medium characteristics propagating with a subluminal or superluminal velocity is analyzed. The equations describing the propagation of the forward- and counter-propagating waves in such an inhomogeneous medium are derived. Quasi-phase conjugation is demonstrated in the case of superluminal inhomogeneities. The Bragg resonance conditions are formulated and the conditions for increasing the reflection coefficient of radiation from an inhomogeneity are discussed.     

Forward light reflection from a moving inhomogeneity

The reflection of monochromatic and quasi-monochromatic pulsed light incident on a moving inhomogeneity in the optical characteristics of a medium having plasma-type dispersion has been analyzed. The velocity V of the inhomogeneity, induced in the medium by an intense laser pulse, has been changed by varying its carrier frequency. It has been shown that the usual back-reflection mode, when the reflected radiation pulse moves in the direction opposite the direction of incident radiation, is implemented only if the velocity V is less than the critical value V _min, which depends on the carrier frequency of the incident radiation pulse. It has been found that reflected radiation moves in the same direction as the incident radiation in a certain range of the velocity V _min < V < V _max (forward reflection). In this case, the reflected radiation pulse begins to lag behind a fast-moving inhomogeneity. When V _max < V < c, where c is the speed of light in vacuum, the group velocity of the incident radiation pulse is less than the speed of inhomogeneity, and there is no reflection. Analytical treatment is supported by numerical simulation.     

Radiation reflection from an optical inhomogeneity moving in a right- and left-handed medium

The parametric Doppler effect in a medium whose dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability become negative in some spectral range is analyzed with respect to uniform plane waves. The regime in which the medium is right-handed (the refractive index is positive) for incident radiation and left-handed (the refractive index is negative) for reflected wave is demonstrated. The possibility of the occurrence of additional branches in the dispersion dependences is demonstrated.     

Nonreciprocal effects in light reflection by a moving medium

Nonreciprocal effects in light reflection by a medium moving along an interface are considered in a weakly relativistic approximation. It is found that nonreciprocal effects are anomalously large in the vicinity of the Brewster and the total-internal-reflection (TIR) angles when light is reflected by transparent moving media. These effects exceed considerably (by several orders of magnitude) the ratio of the velocity of the reflecting medium to the velocity of light and can be proportional to rather than to under certain conditions. We show new possibilities for the creation a method for investigation of the structure of nonuniform flows with a very small spatial scale (less than one millimeter). This method is based on measurement of amplitude and phase nonreciprocities in light reflection by these flows.Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhny Novgorod. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 38, No. 11, pp. 1146–1157, November, 1995.     

Amplification of entangled light upon reflection from a cavity with nonlinear medium

The kinetic equation for the case of reflection of a broadband entangled light of a nondegenerate parametric source from a cavity is derived with the use of the technique of stochastic differential Ito equations. Statistical properties of the light reflected from a cavity with a nonlinear transparent medium, in which the process of special parametric interaction occurs, are considered on the basis of the obtained equation. Due to the integrals of motion, the entangled light, which is an EPR pair of continuous variables, can be amplified without destruction of the quantum correlation.     

The parametric Doppler effect in a medium with Lorentz dispersion

The frequency conversion under the parametric Doppler effect, which occurs when weak probe radiation reflects off from a refractive index inhomogeneity induced in a nonlinear medium by intense pumping, has been analyzed. Under these conditions, the frequency dispersion of the medium is assumed to correspond to the single Lorentz oscillator model. It is shown that the presence of resonance and a spectral range forbidden for propagation may lead to a complex Doppler effect, where the incident radiation is single-frequency but the reflected radiation consists of two or three monochromatic waves, one of which has a phaseconjugated wavefront.     

Transformation and shift of a Gaussian light beam upon reflection from a resonant medium

The specific features of the transformation and shift of a Gaussian beam reflected from a resonant absorbing medium are analyzed numerically. The study is based on the expansion of the field of the incident Gaussian beam into plane-wave components by using the Fourier integral transform. The calculations are performed for a frequency range covering the resonance region. The conditions for the splitting of the profile of the reflected beam and for its negative shift are established.     

The parametric Doppler effect upon oblique incidence of probe radiation

Transformation of frequency and intensity of probe radiation obliquely incident on a moving inhomogeneity induced by an intense laser radiation in a nonlinear medium is analyzed. The dependences of frequency and intensity of radiation reflected from the inhomogeneity have been found for a variant of frequency dispersion corresponding to collision-free plasma. These dependences possess singularities under conditions corresponding to the Vavilov-Cherenkov effect. The initially weak noise components of probe radiation increase in the reflected radiation up to a considerable value.     

Gaussian pulse transformation upon reflection from a resonant medium

The transformation and longitudinal shift of “the center of gravity” of a Gaussian pulse reflected from the plane surface of a semi-infinite resonant medium are analyzed numerically. The regions of carrier frequencies in which the maximum and minimum deformations of the reflected pulse are observed are determined.     

The speed of light in a moving medium

The Fizeau experiment is analysed in terms of special relativity on the hypothesis that light in a material medium is alternately emitted and absorbed. It is found that if dispersion is neglected this extinction theory leads to the same result as the more usual theory, contrary to a recent conclusion of Ockert. The theories differ in their predictions when dispersion is included, and the results of an experiment by Zeeman are shown to favour the usual theory.     

Radiation reflection from inhomogeneities moving in a medium with a plasma dispersion law

The dependence of the complex frequency of radiation reflected from an inhomogeneity moving in a medium on the frequency of the incident radiation is found for inhomogeneous wave regimes. Explicit expressions for the plasma dispersion law of the medium are presented. The complex Doppler effect, where one (real) frequency of the incident radiation corresponds to two complex frequencies of the reflected radiation, is demonstrated.     

Study of reflection of light by a moving mirror

The law of reflection of light by a moving mirror in the case of special Lorentz transformation is well known. We have derived the law of reflection of light by a moving mirror in the case of the most general Lorentz transformation. It has been observed that in the case of special Lorentz transformation, the law of reflection of light by a moving mirror is very simple but in the case of the most general Lorentz transformation, the law of reflection of light by a moving mirror is very complex.      

Diffuse reflection of light from a dense random medium using fibres dipped into the medium

Diffuse reflection of a narrow collimated light beam from a slab of a dense random medium is considered theoretically and experimentally for the case of the source and the detector fibres dipped into the random medium, as is the case for an endoscopic catheter. By use of the diffusion approximation, a simple and physically clear analytical expression is derived for the distribution of the diffuse reflectance of the light beam along the surface of the random medium slab. We include the effects of reflections from the top and bottom surfaces of the slab. The analytical expression derived predicts that, in the case of small absorption, the relative reflectance is a universal function defined by the geometrical parameters and is independent of specific properties of the random medium. The theoretical prediction is found to show good agreement with the results of measurements.     

Diffuse reflection of light from a dense random medium using fibres dipped into the medium

Abstract

Diffuse reflection of a narrow collimated light beam from a slab of a dense random medium is considered theoretically and experimentally for the case of the source and the detector fibres dipped into the random medium, as is the case for an endoscopic catheter. By use of the diffusion approximation, a simple and physically clear analytical expression is derived for the distribution of the diffuse reflectance of the light beam along the surface of the random medium slab. We include the effects of reflections from the top and bottom surfaces of the slab. The analytical expression derived predicts that, in the case of small absorption, the relative reflectance is a universal function defined by the geometrical parameters and is independent of specific properties of the random medium. The theoretical prediction is found to show good agreement with the results of measurements.     

Reversed Doppler effect under reflection from a shock electromagnetic wave

The possibility of observing the reversed Doppler effect in an electrodynamic system of coupled transmission lines with different dispersion types is demonstrated.     

The parametric Doppler effect in quartz glass

Transformation of frequency is analyzed under the parametric Doppler effect in quartz glass in the “optic collider” scheme. In this scheme, intense laser radiation induces moving inhomogeneities of the refractive index in the glass and the probe radiation undergoes the Doppler frequency shift when being reflected from them. The possibilities of transforming the frequency both within the main transparent region and from the main transparent region to the low- and high-frequency regions separated from the main region by absorption peaks in the infrared and ultraviolet spectral ranges are demonstrated.