Analytical description of spontaneous emission of light at the optical event horizon

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytical framework to describe and quantify photon emission and correlations from optical event horizons created by moving refractive index perturbations, aiming to facilitate laboratory observation of horizon-induced particle emission.

Contribution

It introduces a new analytical method based on curved space-time field theory to calculate mode coupling and photon pair emission in optical horizons, including spectral correlations and flux.

Findings

Significant spectral correlations between modes of opposite norm.

Increased photon flux characteristic of horizon emission.

Emission spectra and quantum correlations consistent with vacuum-origin particles.

Abstract

Quantum fluctuations in curved space-time cause the emission of particles. In order to understand how they may be detected in a laboratory experiment, we consider a moving refractive index perturbation in an optical medium, which exhibits optical event horizons. Based on the field theory in curved space-time we formulate an analytical method to calculate the scattering matrix that completely describes mode coupling leading to the emission of photon pairs in various configurations. We then quantify the spectrally resolved photon number correlations. Moreover, we apply our method in a case study, in which we consider a moving refractive index step in bulk fused silica. We calculate key observables in the moving frame as well as in the laboratory frame, such as the emission spectrum and the spectrally resolved quantum correlations of the photon number. We observe significant spectral correlations between modes of opposite norm, evidence of their vacuum origin. We find that emission from horizons is characterised by an increased photon flux, a signature spectral shape as well as a correlation with the partner photon mode approaching unity. These methods and findings pave the way to the observation of particles from the event horizon in dispersive systems.