Subvacuum effects on light propagation

Abstract

Subvacuum effects arise in quantum field theory when a classically positive quantity, such as the local energy density, acquires a negative renormalized expectation value. Here we investigate the case of states of the quantized electromagnetic field with negative mean-squared electric field, and their effects on the propagation of light pulses in a nonlinear dielectric material with a nonzero third-order susceptibility. We identify two distinct signatures of the subvacuum effect in this situation. The first is an increase in the speed of the pulse, which is analogous to the superluminal light propagation in gravity which can arise from negative energy density. This increase in speed leads to a phase shift which might be large enough to observe. The second effect is a change in the frequency and power spectra of the pulse. We identify a specific measure of the modified spectra which can signal the presence of a negative mean squared electric field. These ideas are implemented in the particular example of a wave guide filled with a nonlinear dielectric material.

18 pages, 4 figures, expanded and published version

References in corpus (2)

• A Model for Lightcone Fluctuations due to Stress Tensor Fluctuations
• Maximal Subvacuum Effects: A Single Mode Example

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Remarks on the influence of quantum vacuum fluctuations over a charged test particle near a conducting wall
• Vacuum induced dispersions on the motion of test particles in $D+1$ dimensions
• Probing thermal fluctuations through scalar test particles
• Maximal Subvacuum Effects: A Single Mode Example
• Quantum induced birefringence in nonlinear optical materials