Reversed propagation dynamics of Laguerre-Gaussian beams in left-handed materials

Journal Article · Fri Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2008 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.77.023812· OSTI ID:21140559

Hailu, Luo ^[1]; Zhongzhou, Ren ^[1]; Weixing, Shu; Shuangchun, Wen ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008 (China)
2. School of Computer and Communication, Hunan University, Changsha 410082 (China)

On the basis of angular spectrum representation, the reversed propagation dynamics of a Laguerre-Gaussian beam in left-handed materials (LHMs) is presented. We show that the negative phase velocity gives rise to a reversed screw of the wave front, and ultimately leads to a reversed rotation of the optical vortex. Furthermore, the negative Gouy-phase shift causes an inverse spiral of the Poynting vector. It is found that the Laguerre-Gaussian beam in LHMs will present the same propagation characteristics as the counterpart with opposite topological charges in regular right-handed materials (RHMs). The momentum conservation theorem ensures that the tangential component of the wave momentum at the RHM-LHM boundary is conserved. It is shown that although the linear momentum reverses its direction, the angular momentum remains unchanged.

• OSTI ID: 21140559
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 77; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
GAUSSIAN PROCESSES
LINEAR MOMENTUM
PHASE SHIFT
PHASE VELOCITY
POYNTING THEOREM
ROTATION
SPECTRA
VORTICES