Superluminal photonic tunneling and quantum electronics

Nimtz, G.; Heitmann, W.

doi:10.1016/s0079-6727(97)84686-1

Cited by 153 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…In this case there is no finite phasetime or group delay expected nor observed for the wave packet inside a barrier [7,8]. Such a behaviour seem to explain the experimental data of reflection by opaque barriers: Evanescent modes appear to be nonlocal at least up to some ten wavelengths as experiments have shown in this study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Pulse reflection by photonic barriers

2002

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The time behaviour of microwaves undergoing partial reflection by photonic barriers was measured in the time and in the frequency domain. It was observed that unlike the duration of partial reflection by dielectric layers, the measured reflection duration of barriers is independent of their length. The experimental results point to a nonlocal behaviour of evanescent modes at least over a distance of some ten wavelengths. Evanescent modes correspond to photonic tunnelling in quantum mechanics.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Pulse reflection by photonic barriers

2002

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“…These include passive absorptive [1], passive reflective [2,3], and active transparent [4] media. There have also been numerous theoretical and experimental proposals to observe superluminality in the tunneling of electromagnetic wavepackets [5].Here we report the first experimental observation of superluminal effects in a passive system with neither absorption nor reflection. The effects arise because of a transfer of energy or interference between two modes of the electromagnetic field, in this case two different polarizations of light.…”

mentioning

confidence: 72%

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confidence: 99%

Demonstration of Superluminal Effects in an Absorptionless, Nonreflective System

et al. 2003

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We present an experimental and theoretical study of a simple, passive system consisting of a birefringent, two-dimensional photonic crystal and a polarizer in series, and show that superluminal dispersive effects can arise even though no incident radiation is absorbed or reflected. We demonstrate that a vector formulation of the Kramers-Kronig dispersion relations facilitates an understanding of these counter-intuitive effects.Superluminal group velocities have been observed in a number of different physical systems. These include passive absorptive [1], passive reflective [2,3], and active transparent [4] media. There have also been numerous theoretical and experimental proposals to observe superluminality in the tunneling of electromagnetic wavepackets [5].Here we report the first experimental observation of superluminal effects in a passive system with neither absorption nor reflection. The effects arise because of a transfer of energy or interference between two modes of the electromagnetic field, in this case two different polarizations of light. We are able to interpret these results using a new vector formulation of the Kramers-Kronig relations.It is widely believed that the Kramers-Kronig (K-K) relations [6] require that passive systems be either absorptive or reflective in order to exhibit superluminal effects. In this paper, we demonstrate that this is not the case; while absorptive and reflective systems are required to have spectral regions of anomalous dispersion, the converse is not necessarily true. In fact, the exchange of energy between modes is a sufficient condition for superluminal propagation in any system. We show that these effects are consistent with causality.Our experimental system consists of a slab of highly birefringent two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal and a linear polarizer, placed in series. The photonic crystal has fundamental and second-order photonic band gaps in the regions of 10 and 20 GHz, and displays strong birefringence with very high transmission in the frequency range between the two gaps [7]. The crystal itself is an 18-layer hexagonal array of hollow acrylic rods (outer diameter 1/2") with an air-filling fraction (AFF) of 0.60. The crystal was constructed using a method which we have previously described [8].We studied the transmission and dispersive properties of this system between the two band gaps, using an HP 8720A vector network analyzer (VNA). Microwaves were coupled to and from free space with polarization-sensitive horn antennae. The photonic crystal was placed in the far-field of the transmitter horn to ensure that planar wavefronts of a well-defined polarization were incident on it. The receiver horn was positioned immediately behind the photonic crystal on a direct line of sight with the transmitter horn. In addition, the crystal and receiver horn were placed inside a microwave-shielded box with an open square aperture, whose size was chosen to minimize diffraction effects while eliminating signal leakage around the crystal. This method has proven very...

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“…= × e e e , we assume that a hollow metallic waveguide is placed along the direction of 3 e , and the waveguide is a straight rectangular pipe with the transversal dimensi d 2 b , without loss of generality. It is also assumed that the waveguide is infinitely long and its conductivity is infinite, and the electromagnetic source is localized infinit…”

Section: Relativistic Quantum Theory Of Guided Wavesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Traditionally, the propagation of electromagnetic wave packets through an undersized waveguide is interpreted in terms of "photonic tunneling", which is based on a mathematical analogy between the Helmholtz equation describing evanescent modes and the nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation describing a quantum-mechanical tunneling [1][2][3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative perspective on photonic tunneling

Wang¹,

Xiong²,

He³

2007

Phys. Rev. A

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A relativistic quantum-mechanical description of guided waves is given, based on which we present an alternative way to describe and interpret the propagation of electromagnetic wave packets through an undersized waveguide. In particular, we show that the superluminal phenomenon of evanescent modes is actually a known conclusion in quantum field theory, and it preserves a quantum-mechanical causality.

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Superluminal photonic tunneling and quantum electronics

Cited by 153 publications

References 54 publications

Pulse reflection by photonic barriers

Pulse reflection by photonic barriers

Demonstration of Superluminal Effects in an Absorptionless, Nonreflective System

Alternative perspective on photonic tunneling

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