Herman Erlichson 1999 Eur. J. Phys. 20 299 doi:10.1088/0143-0807/20/5/301
Herman Erlichson
Show affiliationsJohann Bernoulli's brachistochrone problem is now three hundred years old. Bernoulli's solution to the problem he had proposed used the optical analogy of Fermat's least-time principle. In this analogy a light ray travels between two points in a vertical plane in a medium of continuously varying index of refraction. This solution and connected material are explored in this paper.
45.10.Db Variational and optimization methods
02.30.Xx Calculus of variations
42.25.Gy Edge and boundary effects; reflection and refraction
Issue 5 (September 1999)
Received 8 April 1999
Herman Erlichson 1999 Eur. J. Phys. 20 299
Christian Aulbach et al 2004 New J. Phys. 6 70
N Aközbek et al 2006 New J. Phys. 8 177
M. Zhao et al 2008 ApJ 684 L95
C Joachim 2002 Nanotechnology 13 R1
Ivica Reš and Olivier Lichtarge 2005 Phys. Biol. 2 S36
David J Gross 2005 Phys. Scr. 2005 102
Sophie de Buyl et al JHEP02(2006)056
Sunil Nakrani and Craig Tovey 2007 Bioinspir. Biomim. 2 S182
András Szilágyi et al 2005 Phys. Biol. 2 S1