Theses and Dissertations

Xin Li

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Arnoldus, F. Henk

Committee Member

Wang, Chuji

Committee Member

Pierce, M. Donna

Committee Member

Topsakal, Erdem

Committee Member

Ma, Wenchao

Date of Degree

12-10-2010

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Engineering Physics

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Applied Physics Program

Abstract

An oscillating electric dipole emits radiation, and the flow of energy is represented by the field lines of the Poynting vector. In the most general state of oscillation the dipole moment vector traces out an ellipse. We have evaluated analytically and numerically the field lines of the Poynting vector for the emitted light, and it appears that each field line lies on a cone, which has its axis perpendicular to the plane of the ellipse. The field lines exhibit a vortex structure near the location of the dipole, and they approach a straight line in the far field. The spatial extent of the optical vortex is well below the wavelength of the emitted radiation. It is shown that the asymptotic limit of a field line is displaced as compared to a ray which would come directly out of the source. This nearield vortex pattern will also lead to a shift of the intensity distribution of the radiation in the far field. The emission of radiation by a linearly oscillating electric dipole is drastically altered when the dipole is close to a mirror. The energy is not emitted along optical rays, as for a free dipole, but as a set of four optical vortices. At a larger distance from the dipole singularities and isolated vortices appear. It is shown that most of these interference vortices are due to the vanishing of the magnetic field at their centers. In the plane of the mirror there is a singular circle with a diameter which is proportional to the distance between the dipole and the mirror. Inside this circle, all energy flows to a singularity on the mirror surface. We have also demonstrated a peculiar property of energy transport of optical dipole radiation in a negative index of refraction material (NIM). When the particle is embedded in a NIM and the dipole moment is rotating, the direction of rotation of the field lines of energy flow is reversed as compared to the rotation of the field lines for emission in a dielectric.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/15557

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