Published June 1, 2004 | Version v1
Journal article Metadata-only

Lorentz group in classical ray optics

Creators

  • 1. Department of Physics, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara (Turkey)
  • 2. Science Systems and Applications Incorporated, Lanham, MD 20771 (United States)
  • 3. Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
  • 4. Department of Radiology, New York University, New York, NY 10016 (United States)

Description

It has been almost 100 years since Einstein formulated his special theory of relativity in 1905. He showed that the basic space-time symmetry is dictated by the Lorentz group. It is shown that this group of Lorentz transformations is not only applicable to special relativity, but also constitutes the scientific language for optical sciences. It is noted that coherent and squeezed states of light are representations of the Lorentz group. The Lorentz group is also the basic underlying language for classical ray optics, including polarization optics, interferometers, the Poincare sphere, one-lens optics, multi-lens optics, laser cavities, as well multilayer optics. (review article)

Availability note (English)

Available online at http://stacks.iop.org/1464-4266/6/S455/job4_6_001.pdf or at the Web site for the Journal of Optics. B, Quantum and Semiclassical Optics (Print) (ISSN 1464-4266) http://www.iop.org/

Additional details

Identifiers

URL
http://stacks.iop.org/1464-4266/6/S455/job4_6_001.pdf; http://www.iop.org/;
DOI
10.1088/1464-4266/6/6/001;
PII
S1464-4266(04)74113-0;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Optics. B, Quantum and Semiclassical Optics (Print)
Journal Volume
6
Journal Issue
6
Journal Page Range
p. S455-S472
ISSN
1464-4266

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
35077476
Subject category
S75: CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
INTERFEROMETERS; LASER CAVITIES; LORENTZ GROUPS; LORENTZ TRANSFORMATIONS; OPTICS; POLARIZATION; RELATIVITY THEORY; REVIEWS; SPACE-TIME; SYMMETRY; VISIBLE RADIATION
Descriptors DEC
DOCUMENT TYPES; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; FIELD THEORIES; GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY; LIE GROUPS; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; POINCARE GROUPS; RADIATIONS; SYMMETRY GROUPS; TRANSFORMATIONS