Mimicking the gravitational effect with gradient index lenses in geometrical optics

作     者：WEN XIAO SICEN TAO HUANYANG CHEN 

作者机构：Institute of Electromagnetics and Acoustics and Department of PhysicsXiamen UniversityXiamen 361005China 

出 版 物：《Photonics Research》 (光子学研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2021年第9卷第7期

页      面：1197-1203页

核心收录：

学科分类：070207[理学-光学] 07[理学] 08[工学] 0803[工学-光学工程] 0702[理学-物理学] 

基　　金：National Natural Science Foundation of China(92050102,11874311) National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFA0710100) Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(20720200074) 

主　　题：optics gradient curvature 

摘      要：General relativity establishes the equality between matter-energy density and the Riemann curvature of ***,light or matter will be bent or trapped when passing near the massive celestial objects,and Newton’s second law fails to explain it. The gravitational effect is not only extensively studied in astronomy but also attracts a great deal of interest in the field of optics. People have mimicked black holes,Einstein’s ring,and other fascinating effects in diverse optical systems. Here,with a gradient index lens,in the geometrical optics regime,we mimic the Schwarzschild precession in the orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic Center massive black hole,which was recently first detected by European Southern Observatory. We also find other series of gradient index lenses that can be used to mimic the possible Reissner–Nordstr?m metric of Einstein’s field equation and dark matter particle motion. Light rays in such gradient lenses will be closed in some cases,while in other cases it would be trapped by the center or keep dancing around the center. Our work presents an efficient toy model to help investigate some complex celestial behaviors,which may require long period detection by using high-precision astronomical tools. The induced gradient lenses enlightened by the gravitational effect also enrich the family of absolute optical instruments for their selective closed trajectories.