Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/156705

Download PDF (Accepted manuscript) (Adobe Acrobat PDF, -1 bytes)

Title

Observation of the inverse Doppler effect in negative-index materials at optical frequencies

Author(s)

Chen, Jiabi;  Wang, Yan;  Jia, Baohua;  Geng, Tao;  Li, Xiangping;  Feng, Lie;  Qian, Wei;  Liang, Bingming;  Zhang, Xuanxiong;  Gu, Min;  Zhuang, Songlin

Abstract

The Doppler effect is a fundamental frequency shift phenomenon that occurs whenever a wave source and an observer are moving with respect to one another. It has well-established applications in astrophotonics, biological diagnostics, weather and aircraft radar systems, velocimetry and vibrometry. The counterintuitive inverse Doppler effect was theoretically predicted in 1968 by Veselago1 in negative-index materials2. However, because of the tremendous challenges of frequency shift measurements inside such materials, most investigations of the inverse Doppler effect have been limited to theoretical predictions and numerical simulations3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Indirect experimental measurements have been conducted only in nonlinear transmission lines at ~1–2 GHz (ref. 8) and in acoustic media at 1–3 kHz (ref. 9). Here, we report the first experimental observation of the inverse Doppler shift at an optical frequency (λ = 10.6 µm) by refracting a laser beam in a photonic-crystal prism that has the properties of a negative-index material.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences. Centre for Micro-Photonics

Source

Nature Photonics, Vol. 5, no. 4 (Apr 2011), pp. 239-245

Publication year

2011

FOR Code(s)

0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences;  0205 Optical Physics;  0401 Atmospheric Sciences

Keyword(s)

Doppler effect;  Negative index materials;  Optical frequencies

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

ISSN

1749-4885

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.17

Copyright

Copyright © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. The accepted manuscript of the paper is reproduced here for non-commercial purposes only in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.

Research Projects

An accelerating journey to the new era of Petabyte optical memory systems, Australian Research Council grant number FL100100099
Functional micro multiplexers based on nonlinear three dimensional photonic crystal superprisms, Australian Research Council grant number DP0987006

Full text

Peer reviewed