Light scattering by radiation fields: the optical medium analogy

Abstract

The optical medium analogy of a radiation field generated by either an exact gravitational plane wave or an exact electromagnetic wave in the framework of general relativity is developed. The equivalent medium of the associated background field is inhomogeneous and anisotropic in the former case, whereas it is inhomogeneous but isotropic in the latter. The features of light scattering are investigated by assuming the interaction region to be sandwiched between two flat spacetime regions, where light rays propagate along straight lines. Standard tools of ordinary wave optics are used to study the deflection of photon paths due to the interaction with the radiation fields, allowing for a comparison between the optical properties of the equivalent media associated with the different background fields.

6 pages, 4 figures; published version

References in corpus (2)

• Fiber-optical analogue of the event horizon
• Scattering of particles by radiation fields: a comparative analysis

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Memory effect, conformal symmetry and gravitational plane waves
• From polarized gravitational waves to analytically solvable electromagnetic beams
• Niederer's transformation, time-dependent oscillators and polarized gravitational waves
• Refraction index analysis of light propagation in a colliding gravitational wave spacetime
• On the energy content of electromagnetic and gravitational plane waves through super-energy tensors