Date Published: September 21, 2017
The Theoretical Optical Physics Group headed by Ewan M. Wright conducts research across a broad area including ultrashort nonlinear pulse propagation in transparent media, Vertical External Cavity Semiconductor Lasers (VECSELs), nonlinear optics of photon fluids, and optical binding of particles. In each case the goal is to develop the underlying theory for each area in tandem with the simulation capability for existing or potential experiments.
Snapshots of the transverse intensity profile of a light beam propagating in a photon fluid for different propagation distances. The dynamics is governed by a single component nonlinear Schrodinger equation with a third-order nonlinearity. The input beam is an optical vortex beam, and this causes a rotation of the excitation axis. The resulting cyclotron motion can be interpreted as due to an artificial magnetic field acting on the photon fluid.