Special Relativity-on-a-Photonic-Chip: Applying Circuits’ Analysis to Characterize Einstein Velocity Addition Law
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-16-2019
Abstract
We demonstrate, for the first time to best of our knowledge, the usefulness of the analytical toolbox developed from a disparate field like Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and now applied in the study of the Einstein Velocity Addition (EVA) in Special Relativity (SR). EVA is a central concept in SR that underlies many relativistic effects. The recently established analogy between the EVA and the PICs-based Optical Add-drop Filter (OADF) [J. Modern Optics 66, 679, (2019)] allows us to apply the “Critical Coupling, Over-Coupling and Under-Coupling” (or CC-OC-UC) analytical toolbox to systematically categorize, analyze, and visualize the different behaviors of EVA. We focus on the (i) relative magnitude and (ii) relative direction of the two non-collinear velocities of EVA. This analysis uncovers “not-too-obvious” features that are overlooked or would not have been discussed, otherwise, in the normal treatment of EVA in SR. Other important consequences are briefly discussed.
Recommended Citation
Dingel, B. B. (2019). Special relativity-on-a-photonic-chip: Applying circuits’ analysis to characterize Einstein Velocity Addition Law. Optik, 207, 163788. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2019.163788
