Blackbody emission from light interacting with an effective moving dispersive medium

TL;DR

This paper investigates how intense laser pulses create effective moving dispersive media that can produce blackbody emission spectra, with potential applications in simulating Hawking radiation.

Contribution

It provides an analytical model and numerical validation of blackbody emission from laser-induced flowing media, highlighting diamond as a promising medium for future experiments.

Findings

Stimulated scattering exhibits a blackbody spectrum when a horizon forms.

Analytical model aligns well with Maxwell's equation simulations.

Diamond is identified as an ideal candidate for observing Hawking emission.

Abstract

Intense laser pulses excite a nonlinear polarisation response that may create an effective flowing medium and, under appropriate conditions, a blocking horizon for light. Here we analyse in detail the interaction of light with such laser-induced flowing media, fully accounting for the medium dispersion properties. An analytical model based on a first Born-approximation is found to be in excellent agreement with numerical simulations based on Maxwell's equations and shows that when a blocking horizon is formed, the stimulated medium scatters light with a blackbody emission spectrum. Based on these results, diamond is proposed as a promising candidate medium for future studies of Hawking emission from artificial, dispersive horizons.