Generalized Transformation Design: metrics, speeds, and diffusion

TL;DR

This paper presents a unified, generalized framework for designing spatial transformations that apply to waves, rays, and diffusion in anisotropic media, simplifying the process by neglecting impedance and small variations in material parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive approach that encompasses all second order waves, rays, and diffusion processes, linking the spatial metric to disturbance speeds across different media.

Findings

Unified formulation for waves, rays, and diffusion.

Generalized ray theory matches wave theory predictions.

Applicable to electromagnetic, acoustic, and diffusive media.

Abstract

We show that a unified and maximally generalized approach to spatial transformation design is possible, one that encompasses all second order waves, rays, and diffusion processes in anisotropic media. Until the final step, it is unnecessary to specify the physical process for which a specific transformation design is to be implemented. The principal approximation is the neglect of wave impedance, an attribute that plays no role in ray propagation, and is therefore irrelevant for pure ray devices; another constraint is that for waves the spatial variation in material parameters needs to be sufficiently small compared with the wavelength. The key link between our general formulation and a specific implementation is how the spatial metric relates to the speed of disturbance in a given medium, whether it is electromagnetic, acoustic, or diffusive. Notably, we show that our generalised ray theory, in allowing for anisotropic indexes (speeds), generates the same predictions as does a wave theory, and the results are closely related to those for diffusion processes.