Measures of space-time nonseparability of electromagnetic pulses
Measures of space-time nonseparability of electromagnetic pulses
Electromagnetic pulses are typically treated as space-time (or space-frequency) separable solutions of Maxwell's equations, where spatial and temporal (spectral) dependence can be treated separately. In contrast to this traditional viewpoint, recent advances in structured light and topological optics have highlighted the nontrivial wave-matter interactions of pulses with complex space-time nonseparable structure, as well as their potential for energy and information transfer. A characteristic example of such a pulse is the "flying doughnut"(FD), a space-time nonseparable few-cycle pulse with links to toroidal and nonradiating (anapole) excitations in matter. Here, we propose a quantum-mechanics-inspired methodology for quantitatively characterizing space-time nonseparability in structured pulses. In analogy to the mathematics of nonseparability in quantum mechanics, we introduce the concept of space-spectrum nonseparable states to describe the space-time nonseparability of a classical electromagnetic pulse and apply the state tomography method to reconstruct the corresponding density matrix. Using the example of the FD pulse, we calculate the fidelity, concurrence, and entanglement of formation as their quantitative measures, and we demonstrate that such properties dug out from quantum mechanics can quantitatively characterize the spatiotemporal evolution of general structured pulses. Our results highlight the potential of space-time nonseparable pulses as information carriers and facilitate their deployment in information transfer and cryptography applications.
Shen, Yijie
42410cf7-8adb-4de6-9175-a1332245c368
Zdagkas, Apostolos
af3bc86e-b049-4ea1-b7bb-44e2ee0a4441
Papasimakis, Nikitas
f416bfa9-544c-4a3e-8a2d-bc1c11133a51
Zheludev, Nikolay I.
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
12 March 2021
Shen, Yijie
42410cf7-8adb-4de6-9175-a1332245c368
Zdagkas, Apostolos
af3bc86e-b049-4ea1-b7bb-44e2ee0a4441
Papasimakis, Nikitas
f416bfa9-544c-4a3e-8a2d-bc1c11133a51
Zheludev, Nikolay I.
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
Shen, Yijie, Zdagkas, Apostolos, Papasimakis, Nikitas and Zheludev, Nikolay I.
(2021)
Measures of space-time nonseparability of electromagnetic pulses.
Physical Review Research, 3 (1), [013236].
(doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.013236).
Abstract
Electromagnetic pulses are typically treated as space-time (or space-frequency) separable solutions of Maxwell's equations, where spatial and temporal (spectral) dependence can be treated separately. In contrast to this traditional viewpoint, recent advances in structured light and topological optics have highlighted the nontrivial wave-matter interactions of pulses with complex space-time nonseparable structure, as well as their potential for energy and information transfer. A characteristic example of such a pulse is the "flying doughnut"(FD), a space-time nonseparable few-cycle pulse with links to toroidal and nonradiating (anapole) excitations in matter. Here, we propose a quantum-mechanics-inspired methodology for quantitatively characterizing space-time nonseparability in structured pulses. In analogy to the mathematics of nonseparability in quantum mechanics, we introduce the concept of space-spectrum nonseparable states to describe the space-time nonseparability of a classical electromagnetic pulse and apply the state tomography method to reconstruct the corresponding density matrix. Using the example of the FD pulse, we calculate the fidelity, concurrence, and entanglement of formation as their quantitative measures, and we demonstrate that such properties dug out from quantum mechanics can quantitatively characterize the spatiotemporal evolution of general structured pulses. Our results highlight the potential of space-time nonseparable pulses as information carriers and facilitate their deployment in information transfer and cryptography applications.
Text
PhysRevResearch.3.013236
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 January 2021
Published date: 12 March 2021
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 481640
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481640
ISSN: 2643-1564
PURE UUID: 07272603-a343-4e45-a9c9-b322a65693f8
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Date deposited: 05 Sep 2023 16:48
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:45
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