Huygens' construction in a dispersive medium moving at a constant velocity

TL;DR

This paper extends Huygens' construction to dispersive moving media, showing it remains valid with relativistic modifications, and confirms its predictions align with experimental results and established formulas.

Contribution

It introduces a relativistically modified Huygens' construction for dispersive moving media, bridging classical wave theory with relativistic effects in optical media.

Findings

Agreement with Jones (1975) experiment

Consistency with Player-Rogers deflection formula

Validation of Huygens' principle in non-stationary media

Abstract

We extend the method of Huygens' construction in a uniformly moving optical medium [Am. J. Phys. 72, 934 (2004)] to the case when the medium is dispersive in its rest frame of reference. The first-order Huygens' construction analysis of the light drag in a transversely moving dispersive slab is in agreement with the results of the experiment by Jones (1975) and with the Player-Rogers formula for the downstream deflection of the beam. The derivation purports that the original Huygens' principle remains valid in non-stationary situations if it is modified to include the relativistic effects on the secondary wavelets caused by the motion of the medium.