A possible approach on optical analogues of gravitational attractors

Abstract

In this paper we report on the feasibility of light confinement in orbital geodesics on stationary, planar, and centro-symmetric refractive index mappings. Constrained to fabrication and [meta]material limitations, the refractive index, n, has been bounded to the range: 0.8 ≤ n(r) ≤ 3.5. Mappings are obtained through the inverse problem to the light geodesics equations, considering trappings by generalized orbit conditions defined a priori. Our simulation results show that the above mentioned refractive index distributions trap light in an open orbit manifold, both perennial and temporal, in regards to initial conditions. Moreover, due to their characteristics, these mappings could be advantageous to optical computing and telecommunications, for example, providing an on-demand time delay or optical memories. Furthermore, beyond their practical applications to photonics, these mappings set forth an attractive realm to construct a panoply of celestial mechanics analogies and experiments in the laboratory. © 2013 Optical Society of America.