No Arabic abstract
A low loss propagating electromagnetic wave is shown to exist at a gradual interface between two lossy conductive media. The electromagnetic frequency range of this phenomenon may span from UV optics to RF range. In particular, it is demonstrated that such a surface wave may be guided by a seafloor-seawater interface and it may be used in radio communication and imaging underwater. Similar surface waves may also be guided by various tissue boundaries inside a human body. For example, such surface wave solutions may exist at planar interfaces between skull bones and grey matter inside a human head at 6 GHz.
In this tutorial, we discuss the radiation from a Hertzian dipole into uniform isotropic lossy media of infinite extent. If the medium is lossless, the radiated power propagates to infinity, and the apparent dissipation is measured by the radiation resistance of the dipole. If the medium is lossy, the power exponentially decays, and the physical meaning of radiation resistance needs clarification. Here, we present explicit calculations of the power absorbed in the infinite lossy host space and discuss the limit of zero losses. We show that the input impedance of dipole antennas contains a radiation-resistance contribution which does not depend on the imaginary part of the refractive index. This fact means that the power delivered by dipole antennas to surrounding space always contains a contribution from far fields unless the real part of the refractive index is zero. Based on this understanding, we discuss the fundamental limitations of power coupling between two antennas and possibilities of removing the limit imposed by radiation damping.
Almost a hundred years ago, two different expressions were proposed for the energy--momentum tensor of an electromagnetic wave in a dielectric. Minkowskis tensor predicted an increase in the linear momentum of the wave on entering a dielectric medium, whereas Abrahams tensor predicted its decrease. Theoretical arguments were advanced in favour of both sides, and experiments proved incapable of distinguishing between the two. Yet more forms were proposed, each with their advocates who considered the form that they were proposing to be the one true tensor. This paper reviews the debate and its eventual conclusion: that no electromagnetic wave energy--momentum tensor is complete on its own. When the appropriate accompanying energy--momentum tensor for the material medium is also considered, experimental predictions of all the various proposed tensors will always be the same, and the preferred form is therefore effectively a matter of personal choice.
Two previously studied classes of electromagnetic media, labeled as those of Q media and P media, are decomposed according to the natural decomposition introduced by Hehl and Obukhov. Six special cases based on either non-existence or sole existence of the three Hehl-Obukhov components, are defined for both medium classes.
Recently, it was shown that surface electromagnetic waves at interfaces between continuous homogeneous media (e.g., surface plasmon-polaritons at metal-dielectric interfaces) have a topological origin [K. Y. Bliokh et al., Nat. Commun. 10, 580 (2019)]. This is explained by the nontrivial topology of the non-Hermitian photon helicity operator in the Weyl-like representation of Maxwell equations. Here we analyze another type of classical waves: longitudinal acoustic waves corresponding to spinless phonons. We show that surface acoustic waves, which appear at interfaces between media with opposite-sign densities, can be explained by similar topological features and the bulk-boundary correspondence. However, in contrast to photons, the topological properties of sound waves originate from the non-Hermitian four-momentum operator in the Klein-Gordon representation of acoustic fields.
Transverse Kerker effect is known by the directional scattering of an electromagnetic plane wave perpendicular to the propagation direction with nearly suppression of both forward and backward scattering. Compared with plane waves, localized electromagnetic emitters are more general sources in modern nanophotonics. As a typical example, manipulating the emission direction of a quantum dot is of virtue importance for the investigation of on-chip quantum optics and quantum information processing. Herein, we introduce the concept of transverse Kerker effect of localized electromagnetic sources utilizing a subwavelength dielectric antenna, where the radiative power of magnetic, electric and more general chiral dipole emitters can be dominantly directed along its dipole moment with nearly suppression of radiation perpendicular to the dipole moments. Such transverse Kerker effect is also associated with Purcell enhancement mediated by electromagnetic multipolar resonances induced in the dielectric antenna. Analytical conditions of transverse Kerker effect are derived for the magnetic dipole, electric dipole and chiral dipole emitters. We further provide microwave experiment validation for the magnetic dipole emitter. Our results provide new physical mechanisms to manipulate the emission properties of localized electromagnetic source which might facilitate the on-chip quantum optics and beyond.