From Maxwell to paraxial wave optics

Lax, M.; Louisell, W. H.; McKnight, W. B.

doi:10.1103/physreva.11.1365

Cited by 849 publications

(492 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…We apply the exact quantization scheme for light beams described in [14,15], to the development of a rigorous theory of quasi-paraxial photon fields, namely fields represented by the Lax et al power series expansion [16] truncated at first-order terms. The zero-order terms in the Lax expansion are exact solutions of the paraxial wave equation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transverse angular momentum of photons

2010

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We develop the quantum theory of transverse angular momentum of light beams. The theory applies to paraxial and quasi-paraxial photon beams in vacuum, and reproduces the known results for classical beams when applied to coherent states of the field. Both the Poynting vector, alias the linear momentum, and the angular momentum quantum operators of a light beam are calculated including contributions from first-order transverse derivatives. This permits a correct description of the energy flow in the beam and the natural emergence of both the spin and the angular momentum of the photons. We show that for collimated beams of light, orbital angular momentum operators do not satisfy the standard commutation rules. Finally, we discuss the application of our theory to some concrete cases.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transverse angular momentum of photons

2010

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“…46,47 Hence, the polarization-scrambling term ∇(∇ · E) can be safely neglected [14][15][16]48,49 and attention is paid exclusively to scalar diffraction. 26,41 We consider a TE-polarized cw beam, as represented bỹ…”

Section: Field and Envelope Equationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bistable Helmholtz dark spatial optical solitons in materials with self-defocusing saturable nonlinearity

Christian

Lundie

2017

J. Nonlinear Optic. Phys. Mat.

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We present, to the best of our knowledge, the first exact dark spatial solitons of a nonlinear Helmholtz equation with a self-defocusing saturable refractive-index model. These solutions capture oblique (arbitrary-angle) propagation in both the forward and backward directions, and they can also exhibit a bistability characteristic. A detailed derivation is presented, obtained by combining coordinate transformations and directintegration methods, and the corresponding solutions of paraxial theory are recovered asymptotically as a subset. Simulations examine the robustness of the new Helmholtz solitons, with stationary states emerging from a range of perturbed input beams.

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“…In the paraxial limit (k 0 z 0 1), the electromagnetic field components can be expanded into infinite series [30,32,33] whose leading terms are:…”

Section: Radially Polarized Laser Beamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct Electron Acceleration with Radially Polarized Laser Beams

et al. 2013

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In the past years, there has been a growing interest in innovative applications of radially polarized laser beams. Among them, the particular field of laser-driven electron acceleration has received much attention. Recent developments in high-power infrared laser sources at the INRS Advanced Laser Light Source (Varennes, Qc, Canada) allowed the experimental observation of a quasi-monoenergetic 23-keV electron beam produced by a radially polarized laser pulse tightly focused into a low density gas. Theoretical analyses suggest that the production of collimated attosecond electron pulses is within reach of the actual technology. Such an ultrashort electron pulse source would be a unique tool for fundamental and applied research. In this paper, we propose an overview of this emerging topic and expose some of the challenges to meet in the future.

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From Maxwell to paraxial wave optics

Cited by 849 publications

References 6 publications

Transverse angular momentum of photons

Transverse angular momentum of photons

Bistable Helmholtz dark spatial optical solitons in materials with self-defocusing saturable nonlinearity

Direct Electron Acceleration with Radially Polarized Laser Beams

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