Observation of Stimulated Hawking Radiation in Optics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the laboratory observation of stimulated Hawking radiation using nonlinear fiber optics, creating artificial event horizons and detecting the radiation stimulated by probe light.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental evidence of stimulated Hawking radiation in an optical analogue, advancing the understanding of black hole physics in laboratory settings.

Findings

Observation of stimulated Hawking radiation in fiber optics

Artificial event horizons created by light pulses in nonlinear fibers

Evidence of frequency mixing in extreme nonlinear regimes

Abstract

The theory of Hawking radiation can be tested in laboratory analogues of black holes. We use light pulses in nonlinear fiber optics to establish artificial event horizons. Each pulse generates a moving perturbation of the refractive index via the Kerr effect. Probe light perceives this as an event horizon when its group velocity, slowed down by the perturbation, matches the speed of the pulse. We have observed in our experiment that the probe stimulates Hawking radiation, which occurs in a regime of extreme nonlinear fiber optics where positive and negative frequencies mix.