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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.13188 |
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| _version_ | 1866917146914717696 |
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| author | Castagna, Riccardo Singh, Gautam Riminesi, Cristiano Di Donato, Andrea Todorov, Rossen |
| author_facet | Castagna, Riccardo Singh, Gautam Riminesi, Cristiano Di Donato, Andrea Todorov, Rossen |
| contents | Refraction, traditionally viewed as a geometric event occurring at material interfaces, is now being re-examined through the lens of coherence. Recent studies in optics and photonics, including coherence tomography, Moire interference, and coherence-engineered diffraction, indicate that phase organization alone can bend light even without index discontinuities. Fraunhofer-based analyses further show that angular deflection can arise from intrinsic phase curvature within homogeneous media. Here we introduce a coherence-based constitutive framework that systematizes these observations: refraction can occur inside a bulk medium when coherence itself provides the effective boundary.
Two near-frequency structured beams write and probe a shared phase field, revealing reproducible angular rotation and coherence-lensing whose direction and magnitude follow the spectral detuning. The key detuning coefficient is:
Krc = 2 * pi * (1/lambda_r - 1/lambda_w).
The compact coherence-refraction relation
n2 * sin(theta_t) - n1 * sin(theta_i) = Krc_parallel / k0, with k0 = 2 * pi / lambda_r,
retains the form of Snell's law while extending it to coherence-driven regimes. This is not a new law but a quantitative rule linking tangential phase matching to observable deflection within homogeneous media. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_13188 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | From Diffraction to Refraction: a coherence-based conceptual framework Castagna, Riccardo Singh, Gautam Riminesi, Cristiano Di Donato, Andrea Todorov, Rossen Optics Refraction, traditionally viewed as a geometric event occurring at material interfaces, is now being re-examined through the lens of coherence. Recent studies in optics and photonics, including coherence tomography, Moire interference, and coherence-engineered diffraction, indicate that phase organization alone can bend light even without index discontinuities. Fraunhofer-based analyses further show that angular deflection can arise from intrinsic phase curvature within homogeneous media. Here we introduce a coherence-based constitutive framework that systematizes these observations: refraction can occur inside a bulk medium when coherence itself provides the effective boundary. Two near-frequency structured beams write and probe a shared phase field, revealing reproducible angular rotation and coherence-lensing whose direction and magnitude follow the spectral detuning. The key detuning coefficient is: Krc = 2 * pi * (1/lambda_r - 1/lambda_w). The compact coherence-refraction relation n2 * sin(theta_t) - n1 * sin(theta_i) = Krc_parallel / k0, with k0 = 2 * pi / lambda_r, retains the form of Snell's law while extending it to coherence-driven regimes. This is not a new law but a quantitative rule linking tangential phase matching to observable deflection within homogeneous media. |
| title | From Diffraction to Refraction: a coherence-based conceptual framework |
| topic | Optics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.13188 |