Curiosities of Light Rays and Light Waves

1966 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 714-714
Author(s):  
S. Tolansky ◽  
K. Bennett Kolb
Keyword(s):  
1971 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 286-286
Author(s):  
S. Tolansky ◽  
Miles V. Klein
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Vincent Ginis ◽  
Philippe Tassin

Since its inception in 2006, transformation optics has become an established tool to understand and design electromagnetic systems. It provides a geometrical perspective into the properties of light waves without the need for a ray approximation. Most studies have focused on modifying the trajectories of light rays, e.g. beam benders, lenses, invisibility cloaks, etc. In this contribution, we explore transformation optics beyond the manipulation of light trajectories. With a few well-chosen examples, we demonstrate that transformation optics can be used to manipulate electromagnetic fields up to an unprecedented level. In the first example, we introduce an electromagnetic cavity that allows for deep subwavelength confinement of light. The cavity is designed with transformation optics even though the concept of trajectory ceases to have any meaning in a structure as small as this cavity. In the second example, we show that the properties of Cherenkov light emitted in a transformation-optical material can be understood and modified from simple geometric considerations. Finally, we show that optical forces—a quadratic function of the fields—follow the rules of transformation optics too. By applying a folded coordinate transformation to a pair of waveguides, optical forces can be enhanced just as if the waveguides were closer together. With these examples, we open up an entirely new spectrum of devices that can be conceived using transformation optics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-1-100-6
Author(s):  
Takuya Omura ◽  
Hayato Watanabe ◽  
Naoto Okaichi ◽  
Hisayuki Sasaki ◽  
Masahiro Kawakita

We enhanced the resolution characteristics of a threedimensional (3D) image using time-division multiplexing methods in a full-parallax multi-view 3D display. A time-division light-ray shifting (TDLS) method is proposed that uses two polarization gratings (PGs). As PG changes the diffraction direction of light rays according to the polarization state of the incident light, this method can shift light rays approximately 7 mm in a diagonal direction by switching the polarization state of incident light and adjusting the distance between the PGs. We verified the effect on the characteristics of 3D images based on the extent of the shift. As a result, the resolution of a 3D image with depth is improved by shifting half a pitch of a multi-view image using the TDLS method, and the resolution of the image displayed near the screen is improved by shifting half a pixel of each viewpoint image with a wobbling method. These methods can easily enhance 3D characteristics with a small number of projectors.


Author(s):  
Olga Lemzyakova

Refraction of the eye means its ability to bend (refract) light in its own optical system. In a normal state, which is called emmetropia, light rays passing through the optical system of the eye focus on the retina, from where the impulse is transmitted to the visual cortex of the brain and is analyzed there. A person sees equally well both in the distance and near in this situation. However, very often, refractive errors develop as a result of various types of influences. Myopia, or short-sightedness, occurs when the light rays are focused in front of the retina as a result of passing through the optical system of the eye. In this case, a person will clearly distinguish close objects and have difficulties in seeing distant objects. On the opposite side is development of farsightedness (hypermetropia), in which the focusing of light rays occurs behind the retina — such a person sees distant objects clearly, but outlines of closer objects are out of focus. Near vision impairment in old age is a natural process called presbyopia, it develops due to the lens thickening. Both myopia and hypermetropia can have different degrees of severity. The variant, when different refractive errors are observed in different eyes, is called anisometropia. In the same case, if different types of refraction are observed in the same eye, it is astigmatism, and most often it is a congenital pathology. Almost all of the above mentioned refractive errors require correction with spectacles or use of contact lenses. Recently, people are increasingly resorting to the methods of surgical vision correction.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Coopersmith

Hamilton’s genius was to understand what were the true variables of mechanics (the “p − q,” conjugate coordinates, or canonical variables), and this led to Hamilton’s Mechanics which could obtain qualitative answers to a wider ranger of problems than Lagrangian Mechanics. It is explained how Hamilton’s canonical equations arise, why the Hamiltonian is the “central conception of all modern theory” (quote of Schrödinger’s), what the “p − q” variables are, and what phase space is. It is also explained how the famous conservation theorems arise (for energy, linear momentum, and angular momentum), and the connection with symmetry. The Hamilton-Jacobi Equation is derived using infinitesimal canonical transformations (ICTs), and predicts wavefronts of “common action” spreading out in (configuration) space. An analogy can be made with geometrical optics and Huygen’s Principle for the spreading out of light waves. It is shown how Hamilton’s Mechanics can lead into quantum mechanics.


Author(s):  
David D. Nolte

Galileo Unbound: A Path Across Life, The Universe and Everything traces the journey that brought us from Galileo’s law of free fall to today’s geneticists measuring evolutionary drift, entangled quantum particles moving among many worlds, and our lives as trajectories traversing a health space with thousands of dimensions. Remarkably, common themes persist that predict the evolution of species as readily as the orbits of planets or the collapse of stars into black holes. This book tells the history of spaces of expanding dimension and increasing abstraction and how they continue today to give new insight into the physics of complex systems. Galileo published the first modern law of motion, the Law of Fall, that was ideal and simple, laying the foundation upon which Newton built the first theory of dynamics. Early in the twentieth century, geometry became the cause of motion rather than the result when Einstein envisioned the fabric of space-time warped by mass and energy, forcing light rays to bend past the Sun. Possibly more radical was Feynman’s dilemma of quantum particles taking all paths at once—setting the stage for the modern fields of quantum field theory and quantum computing. Yet as concepts of motion have evolved, one thing has remained constant, the need to track ever more complex changes and to capture their essence, to find patterns in the chaos as we try to predict and control our world.


Optik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 206 ◽  
pp. 164300
Author(s):  
Xiaoning Pan ◽  
Ke Cheng ◽  
Xiaoling Ji ◽  
Tao Wang

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 7199
Author(s):  
Dapu Pi ◽  
Juan Liu

In this article, we propose a reference light wave multiplexing scheme to increase the information capacity of computer-generated holograms. The holograms were generated by different reference light waves and superimposed together as a multiplexed hologram. A modified Gerchberg–Saxton algorithm was used to improve image quality, and different images could be reconstructed when the multiplexed hologram was illuminated by corresponding reference light waves. We performed both numerical simulations and optical experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme. Numerical simulations showed that the proposed method could reconstruct multiple images successfully by a single multiplexed hologram and optical experiments are consistently good with numerical simulations. It is expected that the proposed method has great potential to be widely applied in holographic displays in the future.


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