Experimental Generation of Riemann Waves in Optics
A Route to Shock Wave Control
Abstract
We report the first observation of Riemann (simple) waves, which play a crucial role for understanding the dynamics of any shock-bearing system. This was achieved by properly tailoring the phase of an ultrashort light pulse injected into a highly nonlinear fiber. Optical Riemann waves are found to evolve in excellent quantitative agreement with the remarkably simple inviscid Burgers equation, whose applicability in physical systems is often challenged by viscous or dissipative effects. Our method allows us to further demonstrate a viable novel route to efficiently control the shock formation by the proper shaping of a laser pulse phase. Our results pave the way towards the experimental study, in a convenient benchtop setup, of complex physical phenomena otherwise difficult to access.
Details
- External Organisation(s)
-
INRS Universite d'avant-garde
University of Sussex
Nankai University
San Francisco State University
University of Ferrara
Universite de Franche-Comte
University of Brescia
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
- Type
- Article
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Volume
- 117
- ISSN
- 0031-9007
- Publication date
- 12.08.2016
- Publication status
- Published
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy
- Electronic version(s)
-
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.073902 (Access:
Open
)
-
Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"
