Universität zu Köln

Favaro, Alberto and Hehl, Friedrich W. ORCID: 0000-0003-2503-4744 (2016). Light propagation in local and linear media: Fresnel-Kummer wave surfaces with 16 singular points. Phys. Rev. A, 93 (1). COLLEGE PK: AMER PHYSICAL SOC. ISSN 1094-1622

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Abstract

It is known that the Fresnel wave surfaces of transparent biaxial media have four singular points, located on two special directions. We show that, in more general media, the number of singularities can exceed 4. In fact, a highly symmetric linear material is proposed whose Fresnel surface exhibits 16 singular points. Because for every linear material the dispersion equation is quartic, we conclude that 16 is the maximum number of isolated singularities. The identity of Fresnel and Kummer surfaces, which holds true for media with a certain symmetry (zero skewon piece), provides an elegant interpretation of the results. We describe a metamaterial realization for our linear medium with 16 singular points. It is found that an appropriate combination of metal bars, split-ring resonators, and magnetized particles can generate the correct permittivity, permeability, and magnetoelectric moduli. Lastly, we discuss the arrangement of the singularities in terms of Kummer's 16(6) configuration of points and planes. An investigation parallel to ours, but in linear elasticity, is suggested for future research.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Favaro, Alberto UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hehl, Friedrich W. UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-2503-4744 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-287057
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevA.93.013844
Journal or Publication Title:	Phys. Rev. A
Volume:	93
Number:	1
Date:	2016
Publisher:	AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Place of Publication:	COLLEGE PK
ISSN:	1094-1622
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language OPTICAL SINGULARITIES; CRYSTALS Multiple languages Optics; Physics, Atomic, Molecular & Chemical Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/28705