Classical Simulation of Relativistic Zitterbewegung in Photonic Lattices

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.143902· OSTI ID:21466990

Dreisow, Felix; Heinrich, Matthias; Keil, Robert; Tuennermann, Andreas; Nolte, Stefan ^[1]; Longhi, Stefano ^[2]; Szameit, Alexander ^[1]

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1. Institute of Applied Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena (Germany)
2. Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan (Italy)

We present the first experimental realization of an optical analog for relativistic quantum mechanics by simulating the Zitterbewegung (trembling motion) of a free Dirac electron in an optical superlattice. Our photonic setting enables a direct visualization of Zitterbewegung as a spatial oscillatory motion of an optical beam. Direct measurements of the wave packet expectation values in superlattices with tuned miniband gaps clearly show the transition from weak-relativistic to relativistic and far-relativistic regimes.

• OSTI ID: 21466990
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 14; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.143902; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRONS
PHOTON BEAMS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SUPERLATTICES
WAVE PACKETS
ZITTERBEWEGUNG
BEAMS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FERMIONS
LEPTONS
MECHANICS
SIMULATION