Ponderomotive dynamics of waves in quasiperiodically modulated media

Authors: D. E. Ruiz, I.Y. Dodin

Abstract: Similarly to how charged particles experience time-averaged ponderomotive forces in high frequency fields, linear waves also experience time-averaged refraction in modulated media. Here we propose a covariant variational theory of this "ponderomotive effect on waves" for a general nondissipative linear medium. Using the Weyl calculus, our formulation accommodates waves with temporal and  spatial period comparable to that of the  modulation (provided that parametric resonances are avoided). Our theory also shows that any wave is, in fact, a polarizable object that contributes to the linear dielectric tensor of the ambient medium. The dynamics of quantum particles is subsumed as a special case. As an illustration, ponderomotive potentials of quantum particles and photons are calculated within a number of models. We also explain a fundamental connection between these results and the commonly known expression for the electrostatic dielectric tensor  of quantum plasmas.

Download PPPL-5291 (pdf 2.7 MB 16 pp)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________