Wave manipulation via delay-engineered periodic potentials

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method for wave manipulation using delay-engineered periodic potentials, demonstrating how a temporally periodic perturbation can trap waves transversely through an effective potential derived from the Kapitza effect, with experimental validation in optics.

Contribution

The study presents a novel approach to wave trapping by employing delay-dependent periodic potentials, extending the Kapitza effect to inhomogeneous gauge fields with experimental demonstration.

Findings

Effective potential proportional to the square of the transverse delay derivative.

Wave trapping demonstrated via optical fiber loop setup.

Potential applications across cold atoms and optical systems.

Abstract

We discuss the semi-classical transverse trapping of waves by means of an inhomogeneous gauge field. In the proposed scheme a temporally-periodic perturbation is shifted in time, the imparted delay being dependent on the transverse direction. We show that, due to the Kapitza effect, an effective potential proportional to the square of the transverse derivative of the delay arises. On a more physical ground, the delay induces a transversely-varying periodic force acting on the wave, in turn providing a phase delay owing to the local modulation of the kinetic energy. Our results are quite generic and can find application in several fields, ranging from cold atoms to optics: accordingly, an experimental proof-of-principle is provided using an optical set-up based upon fiber loops.