Reflection and transmission of circularly polarized waves in nonlinear dielectrics

A time-sinusoidal circularly polarized plane standing wave solution is obtained for isotropic lossless dielectric media with arbitrary nonlinearity. The spatial variation of the standing wave depends on the nonlinearity and is found by solving a problem of centralforce motion in which the electric complementary energy density furnishes the potential and the spatial coordinate has the role of time. Two special nonlinear dielectric response laws-cubic and quintic-are treated, and explicit solutions for the spatial variation of the wave amplitude and phase are obtained in terms of elliptic functions and elliptic integrals, respectively. The standing-wave solution is applied to give steady state solutions of two reflection/transmission problems (a) reflection from, or resonance modes between, ideally conducting planes and (b) reflection and transmission at a plane interface between two nonlinear dielectric media.     

Intense circularly polarized waves in plasmas

The nonlinear propagation of an intense circularly polarized electromagnetic wave in a cold plasma is investigated. A relativistic modulational instability and an exact localized solutions are found.     

Anisotropic gratings recorded from two circularly polarized coherent waves

A constant intensity, rectilinear light vibration, with spatially varying orientation, is obtained from superposition of two orthogonal circularly polarized waves propagating, in slightly different directions. Such an exposure on a photoanisotropic medium, prints a grating characterized only by spatial variations in the orientation of the induced optic axis. The diffraction properties of such a grating are investigated. It behaves as a uniformly transparent isotropic medium when illuminated by the same waves as during the recording process. Illumination by a circular wave, generates a transmitted and a single diffracted beam, while an incident elliptically polarized one would produce, apart from the central order, two diffracted beams with orthogonal circular polarizations.     

Metrology of degree of coherence of circularly polarized optical waves

The use of the method of field polarization modulation for defining the degree of coherence of circularly polarized waves is offered. The role of the reference circularly polarized wave in transforming the spatial distribution of polarization into the depth of visibility modulation of the resulting distribution, which can be metrologically estimated and analyzed, is demonstrated.     

Dynamically controlled asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized waves in VO2-integrated Dirac semimetal metamaterials

We numerically demonstrated a novel chiral metamaterial to achieve broadband asymmetric transmission (AT) of linearly polarized electromagnetic waves in terahertz (THz) band. The proposed metamaterial unit cell exhibits no rotational symmetry with vanadium dioxide (VO$_{2}$) inclusion embedded between Dirac semimetals (DSMs) pattern. The resonant frequency of AT can be dynamically tunable by varying the Fermi energy ($E_{\rm F}$) of the DSMs. The insulator-to-metal phase transition of VO$_{2}$ enables the amplitude of the AT to be dynamically tailored. The transmission coefficient $|T_{yx}|$ can be adjusted from 0.756 to nearly 0 by modifying the conductivity of VO$_{2}$. Meanwhile, the AT parameter intensity of linearly polarized incidence can be actively controlled from 0.55 to almost 0, leading to a switch for AT. When VO$_{2}$ is in its insulator state, the proposed device achieves broadband AT parameter greater than 0.5 from 1.21 THz to 1.80 THz with a bandwidth of 0.59 THz. When the incident wave propagates along the backward ($-z$) direction, the cross-polarized transmission $|T_{yx}|$ reaches a peak value 0.756 at 1.32 THz, whereas the value of $|T_{xy}|$ well below 0.157 in the concerned frequency. On the other hand, the co-polarized transmission $|T_{xx}|$ and $|T_{yy}|$ remained equal in the whole frequency range. This work provides a novel approach in developing broadband, tunable, as well as switchable AT electromagnetic devices.     

Optics of circularly polarized light waves in one-dimensional magneto-photonic crystals: Theory

A theory is presented for propagation of electromagnetic waves through one-dimensional magnetic Bragg structures (magneto-photonic crystals). Within the self-consistent Green-function technique the transfer matrices and magneto-optical characteristics are derived in terms of circularly polarized waves propagating in periodical arrays of alternating magnetic and dielectric layers. For finite-thickness magneto-photonic crystals, the Faraday rotation and other magneto-optical responses are demonstrated to change considerably in the spectral range of stop-bands, the magnetic modulation of the in-plane reflection intensity being essentially enhanced.     

Parametric excitation of circularly polarized and ion waves in a magnetized plasma

Threshold intensities and growth rates are calculated for the parametric decay instability in which a circularly polarized pump wave excites a low frequency electrostatic ion wave and an electromagnetic circularly polarized wave in a magnetized plasma.     

Negative refraction and focusing of circularly polarized waves in optically active media

Analysis indicates that certain types of optically active media are capable of producing negative refraction and focusing of circularly polarized waves. It is established that a slab of such material acts just as Veselago's hypothetical left-handed media lens, providing subwavelength resolution as Sir Pendry's ideal lens, but for circularly polarized waves.     

Scattering forces and electromagnetic momentum density in crossed circularly polarized standing waves

We analyze the forces on a small dipolar particle and the electromagnetic momentum density in a configuration consisting in two perpendicular circularly polarized stationary waves. The field distribution shows regions in which the electric and magnetic fields are parallel corresponding to a null Poynting vector. Although the average value of the momentum density, proportional to the Poynting vector, is zero in these regions, there are scattering forces acting on small particles due to light's spin force. The total scattering force suggests a new definition of the average value of the momentum density for free propagating electromagnetic fields.     

Scattering forces and electromagnetic momentum density in crossed circularly polarized standing waves

We analyze the forces on a small dipolar particle and the electromagnetic momentum density in a configuration consisting in two perpendicular circularly polarized stationary waves. The field distribution shows regions in which the electric and magnetic fields are parallel corresponding to a null Poynting vector. Although the average value of the momentum density, proportional to the Poynting vector, is zero in these regions, there are scattering forces acting on small particles due to light's spin force. The total scattering force suggests a new definition of the average value of the momentum density for free propagating electromagnetic fields.     

Propagation of circularly polarized waves in one-dimensional bragg structures (magnetophotonic crystals)

A theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in structures formed by alternating magnetic and dielectric layers is proposed. Models of macroscopically thick and atomically thin layers magnetized perpendicular to their plane are considered. Transfer matrices of circularly polarized waves and characteristics of light propagation in periodic magnetic structures under normal incidence are obtained by the self-consistent electrodynamic Green’s function method in analytic form. The results obtained are employed to analyze linear-in-magnetization magneto-optical effects in the transmittance and reflectance spectra of one-dimensional magnetic Bragg structures called magnetophotonic crystals. For structures of finite thickness, Faraday rotation and other observable magneto-optical quantities are shown to vary appreciably in the spectral region of the stop bands of a magnetophotonic crystal. This is paralleled by a substantial enhancement of the magnetic-fieldinduced modulation of the reflectance of light polarized in the analyzer plane.     

Backscattering of circularly polarized pulses

Using numerical simulations of vector radiative transport, we examine time-resolved backscattering of circularly polarized plane waves normally incident upon a slab containing a random distribution of latex spheres in water. For large spheres the effect of polarization memory occurs a short time after first-order scattering and before depolarization. It is the result of successive near-forward-scattering events that maintain the incident wave's helicity. For moderately large scatterers it exhibits a simple dependence on the anisotropy factor. For larger spheres or those with higher refractive indices, it also depends on complicated angular and polarization characteristics of backscattering given by Mie theory.     

Correlation of the left- and the right-handed circularly polarized waves in an anisotropic crystal

An optical torque is induced by incidence of the linearly polarized light and propagating through an anisotropic crystal, which results in self-modulation of the ordinary and the extraordinary waves and causes an energy splitting of the resultant left-, and the right-handed elliptically polarized waves. The optical torque originates from the angular momentum of light, which causes the correlation of the left- and the right-handed circularly polarized waves in the crystal.     

Multipactor discharge on a dielectric surface in the field of circularly polarized plane waves

The secondary-emission discharge (multipactor) on a dielectric surface irradiated by a plane TEM wave of circular polarization is analyzed theoretically. It is shown that interaction of electrons with the electromagnetic wave field can provide their return to the emission surface, which makes a multipactor possible even without any external static fields. Multipactor conditions for different reflection coefficients of the incident wave are found. The obtained results are used to estimate the throughput of the output window of a high-power vacuum microwave device. Specifically, it is established that decreasing the high-frequency field amplitude on the window surface when the mode of a partially standing wave is realized in the vicinity of the window does not always help raise its electric strength.     

Cutoff of circularly polarized electromagnetic waves in a waveguide filled with axially magnetized plasma

The paper deals with an experimental investigation of the cutoff conditions for RHCP and LHCP waves propagating in an axially magnetized plasma filling a circular waveguide. The results of an experiment carried out in the X-band are in a qualitative agreement with the linear theory.     

Spin-exchange-induced circularly polarized molecular fluorescence

We have measured the circular polarization of light emitted from both atomic H and molecular H2 after bombarding H2 with longitudinally polarized electrons. For both atomic and molecular fluorescence near threshold we observe a circular polarization as great as 10% of the electron polarization. This represents the first direct observation of spin transfer in electron-molecule collisions.     

Monoenergetic ion beam generation by driving ion solitary waves with circularly polarized laser light

Experimental data from the Trident Laser facility is presented showing quasimonoenergetic carbon ions from nm-scaled foil targets with an energy spread of as low as ±15% at 35?MeV. These results and high-resolution kinetic simulations show laser acceleration of quasimonoenergetic ion beams by the generation of ion solitons with circularly polarized laser pulses (500?fs, λ=1054 nm). The conversion efficiency into monoenergetic ions is increased by an order of magnitude compared with previous experimental results, representing an important step towards applications such as ion fast ignition.     

Properties of circularly polarized vortex beams

The properties of circularly polarized vortex beams in cylindrical polarization bases are studied. A circularly polarized vortex beam is decomposed into radial and azimuthal polarization. With the proper combination of vortex charge and the handedness of the circular polarization, a focal field with an extremely strong longitudinal component as well as a flat-topped profile can be obtained. The cylindrical decomposition also sheds light on the connections between orbital angular momentum and the spin of the light beams.