The photonic soliton

A. Meulenberg

doi:10.1117/12.2022001

1 October 2013 The photonic soliton

A. Meulenberg

Proceedings Volume 8832, The Nature of Light: What are Photons? V; 88320M (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2022001
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The size stability of the photon has been a puzzle for many decades. However, the self-focusing of a laser beam in matter may provide some guidance to this problem. A conceptual basis for this effect will be accompanied by calculations based on the laser models. It does not necessarily fit. Nevertheless, it leads to better models. The notion of a self-generated light pipe for a photon supports the image of the photon as a soliton. Two photon models are developed. In one, there is a circulating high-energy density that creates a finite-radius light pipe, which thus confines the photon to a core, but with an extended evanescent wave about it. It confines by total internal reflection. In the other, the confinement mode is that of a self-generated graded refractive index (GRIN) optical lens, which does not produce an evanescent wave; but, the electromagnetic energy is spread into the region that would be occupied by the evanescent wave of the first model. The models may be equivalent; both indicate the nature of a relativistic boundary condition that should be imposed on Maxwell’s equations to allow inclusion of photons into his model.

Citation Download Citation

A. Meulenberg "The photonic soliton", Proc. SPIE 8832, The Nature of Light: What are Photons? V, 88320M (1 October 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2022001

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