Light propagation through optical media using metric contact geometry

Abstract

In this work, we show that the orthogonality between rays and fronts of light propagation in a medium is expressed in terms of a suitable metric contact structure of the optical medium without boundaries. Moreover, we show that considering interfaces (modeled as boundaries) orthogonality is no longer fulfilled, leading to optical aberrations and in some cases total internal reflection. We present some illustrative examples of this latter point.

8 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (7)

• General Relativity in Electrical Engineering
• Infinitesimal Legendre symmetry in the Geometrothermodynamics programme
• Contact Geometry in Superconductors and New Massive Gravity
• Thurston Geometries in Three-Dimensional New Massive Gravity
• Christiaan Huygens and contact geometry
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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Contact topology and electromagnetism: The Weinstein conjecture and Beltrami-Maxwell fields
• The geometry of induced currents in two dimensional media