Wave propagation in metamaterials mimicking the topology of a cosmic string

We study the interference and diffraction of light when it propagates through a metamaterial medium mimicking the spacetime of a cosmic string¿a topological defect with curvature singularity. The phenomenon may look like a gravitational analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect, since the light propagate...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fernández Núñez, Isabel, Bulashenko, Oleg
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/144298
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/144298
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Cosmologia
Ones gravitacionals
Cosmology
Gravitational waves
Descripción
Sumario:We study the interference and diffraction of light when it propagates through a metamaterial medium mimicking the spacetime of a cosmic string¿a topological defect with curvature singularity. The phenomenon may look like a gravitational analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect, since the light propagates in a region where the Riemann tensor vanishes, being nonetheless affected by the non-zero curvature confined to the string core. We carry out the full-wave numerical simulation of the metamaterial medium and give the analytical interpretation of the results by use of the asymptotic theory of diffraction, which turns out to be in excellent agreement. In particular, we show that the main features of wave propagation in a medium with conical singularity can be explained by four-wave interference involving two geometrical optics and two diffracted waves.