Abstract

This paper presents a systematic theory of electrodynamic relativistic first-order effects in media with spatially inhomogeneous velocity. A geometrooptical approach is developed in terms of which the ray curvatures and changes of the polarization characteristics of the radiation as it passes through a continuous medium with inhomogeneous velocity are found. Nonreciprocal waveguides and lenses (that differ for opposite propagation directions) are demonstrated in a medium with transverse inhomogeneity of the velocity. Scattering (diffraction) of radiation at a localized velocity inhomogeneity is studied. The possibility of masking regions of space so that they become invisible is studied, and the influence of the motion of such a region is analyzed. The velocity inhomogeneity that appears when a region moves causes the radiation reflected from the boundary to appear and makes the inhomogeneity visible. A correct theory is constructed for the reflection of weak radiation from inhomogeneities induced by intense laser pulses in a fixed nonlinear medium and moving with the (group) velocity of light.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

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