Rotary photon drag enhanced by a slow-light medium

Franke-Arnold, S. , Gibson, G. , Boyd, R.W. and Padgett, M. (2011) Rotary photon drag enhanced by a slow-light medium. Science, 333(6038), pp. 65-67. (doi: 10.1126/science.1203984)

Abstract

Transmission through a spinning window slightly rotates the polarization of the light, typically by a microradian. It has been predicted that the same mechanism should also rotate an image. Because this rotary photon drag has a contribution that is inversely proportional to the group velocity, the image rotation is expected to increase in a slow-light medium. Using a ruby window under conditions for coherent population oscillations, we induced an effective group index of about 1 million. The resulting rotation angle was large enough to be observed by the eye. This result shows that rotary photon drag applies to images as well as polarization. The possibility of switching between different rotation states may offer new opportunities for controlled image coding.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gibson, Dr Graham and Padgett, Professor Miles and Franke-Arnold, Professor Sonja
• Authors: Franke-Arnold, S., Gibson, G., Boyd, R.W., and Padgett, M.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Science
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• ISSN: 0036-8075
• ISSN (Online): 1095-9203
• Published Online: 01 January 2011