Optics in Curved Space

Schultheiß V, Batz S, Szameit A, Dreisow F, Nolte S, Tuennermann A, Longhi S, Peschel U (2010)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2010

Journal

Physical Review Letters American Physical Society

Book Volume: 105

Article Number: 143901

Journal Issue: 14

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.143901

Abstract

We experimentally study the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic curvature of space on the evolution of light. We show that the topology of a surface matters for radii of curvature comparable with the wavelength, whereas for macroscopically curved surfaces only intrinsic curvature is relevant. On a surface with constant positive Gaussian curvature we observe periodic refocusing, self-imaging, and diffractionless propagation. In contrast, light spreads exponentially on surfaces with constant negative Gaussian curvature. For the first time we realized two beam interference in negatively curved space.

Authors with CRIS profile

Vincent Schultheiß Institut für Optik, Information und Photonik Ulf Peschel Professur für Experimentalphysik

Additional Organisation(s)

Exzellenz-Cluster Engineering of Advanced Materials

Involved external institutions

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena DE Germany (DE) Politecnico di Milano IT Italy (IT) Technion - Israel Institute of Technology IL Israel (IL)

How to cite

APA:

Schultheiß, V., Batz, S., Szameit, A., Dreisow, F., Nolte, S., Tuennermann, A.,... Peschel, U. (2010). Optics in Curved Space. Physical Review Letters, 105(14). https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.143901

MLA:

Schultheiß, Vincent, et al. "Optics in Curved Space." Physical Review Letters 105.14 (2010).

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