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Communications Physics

Fast- and slow-light-enhanced light drag in a moving microcavity

Tian Qin, Jianfan Yang, Fangxing Zhang, Yao Chen, Dongyi Shen, Wei Liu, Lei Chen, Xiaoshun Jiang, Xianfeng Chen, Wenjie Wan

Published Jun 29, 2020• 37 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Fizeau’s experiment, inspiring Einstein’s special theory of relativity, reveals a small dragging effect acting on light inside a moving medium. Dispersion can enhance such light drag according to Lorentz’s predication. Here fast- and slow-light-enhanced light drag is demonstrated experimentally in a moving optical microcavity through stimulated Brillouin scattering induced transparency and absorption. The strong dispersion provides an enhancement factor up to ~104, greatly reducing the system size down to the micrometer range. These results may offer a unique platform for a compact, integrated solution to motion sensing and ultrafast signal processing applications.

DOI
10.1038/s42005-020-0386-3

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Abstract Fizeau’s experiment, inspiring Einstein’s special theory of relativity, reveals a small dragging effect acting on light inside a moving medium. Dispersion can enhance such light drag according to Lorentz’s predication. Here fast- and slow-light-enhanced light drag is demonstrated experimentally in a moving optical microcavity through stimulated Brillouin scattering induced transparency and absorption. The strong dispersion provides an enhancement factor up to ~104, greatly reducing the system size down to the micrometer range. These results may offer a unique platform for a compact, integrated solution to motion sensing and ultrafast signal processing applications.
Fizeau experiment, inspiring Einstein's special theory of relativity, reveals a small dragging effect of light inside a moving medium. Dispersion can enhance such light drag according to Lorentz's predication. Here we experimentally demonstrate slow and fast light enhanced light drag in a moving optical microcavity through stimulated Brillouin scattering induced transparency and absorption. The strong dispersion provides an enhancement factor up to ~10^4, greatly reducing the system size down to the micrometer range. These results may offer a unique platform for a compact, integrated solution to motion sensing and ultrafast signal processing applications.
As one of the most influential experiments on the development of modern macroscopic theory from Newtonian mechanics to Einstein's special theory of relativity, the phenomenon of light dragging in a moving medium has been discussed and observed extensively in different types of systems. To have a significant dragging effect, the long duration of light travelling in the medium is preferred. Here we demonstrate a light-dragging experiment in an electromagnetically induced transparent cold atomic ensemble and enhance the dragging effect by at least three orders of magnitude compared with the previous experiments. With a large enhancement of the dragging effect, we realize an atom-based velocimeter that has a sensitivity two orders of magnitude higher than the velocity width of the atomic medium used. Such a demonstration could pave the way for motional sensing using the collective state of atoms in a room temperature vapour cell or solid state material.
A light beam normally incident upon an uniformly moving dielectric medium is, in general, subject to bendings due to a transverse Fresnel-Fizeau light drag effect. In most familiar dielectrics, the magnitude of this bending effect is very small and hard to detect. Yet, the effect can be dramatically enhanced in strongly dispersive media where slow group velocities in the m/s range have been recently observed taking advantage of the electromagnetically induced transparency effect. In addition to the usual downstream drag that takes place for positive group velocities, we discuss a significant anomalous upstream drag which is expected to occur for negative group velocities. Furthermore, for sufficiently fast speeds of the medium, higher-order dispersion terms are found to play an important role and to be responsible for light propagation along curved paths or the restoration of the time and space coherence of an incident noisy beam. The physics underlying this class of slow-light effects is thoroughly discussed.
Abstract The Fresnel light dragging effect has remained a subject of significant interest for over two centuries, describing the modification of light propagation in a moving medium. This effect is strongly influenced by the dispersive properties of the medium and is commonly manifested through the phase shift of transmitted light, which varies with the velocity of the medium. In this work, we investigate the phase shift induced by varying the velocity of a moving microcavity. Our results show that a phase shift of approximately 10 m rad is obtained at a velocity of 2 m/s, which increases to about 40 m rad as the velocity reaches 10 m/s. Additionally, the motion of the microcavity significantly affects the transmission of the probe field, leading to measurable perturbations that depend on the induced phase shift. Specifically, the perturbation increases from 0.004 at 2 m/s to 0.02 at 10 m/s. These findings demonstrate that increasing the velocity of the medium enhances the light dragging effect, resulting in a greater modification of light propagation compared to its behavior in a vacuum. This study provides valuable insight into the control of light–matter interaction in dynamic optical systems and its potential applications in advanced photonic technologies.
The Fresnel-Fizeau effect of transverse drag, in which the trajectory of a light beam changes due to the transverse motion of the optical medium, is usually extremely small and hard to detect. We observe transverse drag in a moving hot-vapor cell, utilizing slow light due to electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). The drag effect is enhanced by a factor 3.6 × 10 5 , corresponding to the ratio between the light speed in vacuum and the group velocity under EIT conditions. We study the contribution of the thermal atomic motion, which is much faster than the mean medium velocity, and identify the regime where its effect on the transverse drag is negligible.
Light experiences drag effects when it propagates through a moving medium. The study of light drag has provided foundational insights into light-matter interactions. While longitudinal drag has been extensively characterized, transverse drag, where the medium moves perpendicular to the light's propagation, is subtler and requires advanced techniques for detection. In this work, we experimentally investigate transverse drag in a highly dispersive slow-light medium using non-degenerate Zeeman electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in rubidium vapor. By systematically comparing configurations where the light beam and the medium serve as the moving frame, we leverage Galilean invariance to analyze transverse light-drag in this optical context. Thus, we provide a platform for future tests of fundamental principles on strong experimental grounds, which offers promising applications in precision velocimetry, accelerometry, quantum information, and light storage technologies.