The most beautiful experiment

Crease, Robert P

doi:10.1088/2058-7058/15/9/22

Cited by 59 publications

(36 citation statements)

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“…Among many different subwavelength structures, the double slit is the most renowned because of Young's double-slit interference, which was regarded as one of the most beautiful experiments in history and lies at the heart of both wave optics and quantum physics. [69] As shown in recent studies, Young's double-slit interference also provides a versatile platform for the study of plasmonic coupling and interferences. [38] There are many other types of research related to Young's doubleslit interference, which are devoted to studying the mutual coupling, [70,71] spatial coherence, [72,73] and functional applications [74,75] of surface plasmons.…”

Section: Catenary Fields Functionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Catenary Functions Meet Electromagnetic Waves: Opportunities and Promises

Luo

Guo

et al. 2020

Advanced Optical Materials

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with the development of nanofabrication, characterization, and numerical modeling techniques, research has focused on optical applications in the subwavelength region, where the characteristic dimension of light-matter interactions is below the operating wavelength. [7,8] It was found that catenary functions have played more important roles in this new realm. [9] First, the coupling of evanescent waves, such as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) leads to catenary-shaped intensity distributions, [10,11] which have found practical applications in super-resolution imaging and lithography. [12-15] Second, catenaryshaped subwavelength structures have been proved to be ideal candidates for generating geometric phases, which are widely utilized to construct various functional metasurfaces. [2,16-18] Furthermore, besides the field intensity distribution, the dispersion curves of many capacitive metasurfaces were found to be characterized by the catenary function, [3] which provides a versatile mathematical-physical model to predict the optical and electromagnetic properties of metasurfaces. The application of mathematical functions in classical optical problems is a well-established phenomenon. For instance, in geometric optics governed by Fermat's principle and Snell's law, the surfaces of lenses and mirrors have spherical, parabolic, or aspherical shapes to focus light on a given spot. In laser optics, the characteristics of laser beams are characterized by mathematical functions, such as the Gaussian function, Bessel function, Airy function, and Hermite and Laguerre polynomials. [19-21] In addition, the dispersion curve of an anisotropic material is described by an ellipse. If one of the dielectric tensors were to become negative, the dispersion curve would become hyperbolic. Such materials are therefore called hyperbolic materials. [22,23] Because of the unusual dispersion curve, hyperbolic materials could be used in super-resolution imaging as well as enhancement of spontaneous emission. In this review, we focus on the applications of catenary functions in optics and electromagnetics. There are two types of catenary functions, the hyperbolic cosine function (ordinary catenary) and the logarithmic cosine function, which is often called catenary of equal strength. [1] As shown in Figure 1, both curves resemble the parabolic curve for vanishingly small x values. As x increases, the discrepancy increases and the slope of the catenary of equal strength is the largest among the three curves. Like the parabola, both types of catenary functions Catenary functions play pivotal roles in describing the electromagnetic vectors, intensity distribution, and dispersion of structured light on the subwavelength scale. In this article, the history, basic theories, functional devices, and applications of catenary functions in optics and electromagnetics are reviewed. First, the catenary fields generated by the coupling of evanescent waves are discussed, together with their applications in flat optics, super-resolution imaging, and lith...

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Section: Catenary Fields Functionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Catenary Functions Meet Electromagnetic Waves: Opportunities and Promises

Luo

Guo

et al. 2020

Advanced Optical Materials

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“…Our experiment described in Fig. 2 has often been cited in physics textbooks, 39) and was selected and awarded as The Most Beautiful Experiments by Physics World, 40,41) which was shared with an electron interference experiment that uses the actual fine multiple slits carried out by Jönsson in 1961. 42) in it the heart of quantum mechanics.…”

Section: Single-electron Build Up Of Interference Patternmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Electron Holography and Its Applications to Fundamental Problems in Physics

Tonomura

2008

jjap

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We can now utilize the wave properties of electrons to conduct fundamental experiments on quantum mechanics because of the development of brighter electron beams as well as the ability directly to image the quantum world by utilizing the phase information of electrons. In this paper, we describe new possibilities that have been generated by electronphase microscopy using electron microscopes equipped with coherent yet bright electron beams.

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“…Since 1851 much more than a hundred articles have addressed its use for didactic purposes in classical mechanics, various theoretical aspects on the pendulum motion as well as technical details of its construction. In the poll conducted by Physics World Magazine [4], it was considered one of the ten most beautiful experiments in physics. A historical summary about Earth's rotation is provided in reference [5] and Foucault's biography can be found in references [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foucault pendulum revisited, the determination of precession angular velocity using Cartesian coordinates

Giacometti

2021

Rev. Bras. Ensino Fís.

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A review on the Foucault pendulum motion is presented using Cartesian coordinates for the ideal case and for small amplitude of oscillations. The choice of referential frames, the formulation and solution of Newton's differential equation for the non-inertial frame of the Earth and the validity of the approximations used to simplify the determination of the solution are given. Using the angular position of the trajectory cusps, a new method to determine the precession angular velocity of the Foucault pendulum is shown. The pendulum bob trajectories and velocities for the referential frame in rotation with the Earth as well as for the inertial frame are given and the Chevilliet theorem was demonstrated. In addition, the pendulum bob trajectories are shown when an initial velocity is impinged in the direction perpendicular to the pendulum oscillation plane.

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The most beautiful experiment

Cited by 59 publications

References 0 publications

Catenary Functions Meet Electromagnetic Waves: Opportunities and Promises

Catenary Functions Meet Electromagnetic Waves: Opportunities and Promises

Development of Electron Holography and Its Applications to Fundamental Problems in Physics

Foucault pendulum revisited, the determination of precession angular velocity using Cartesian coordinates

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