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Deutsche Physikalische Gessellschaft IOP Institute of Physics

General relativity in electrical engineering

Ulf Leonhardt and Thomas G Philbin

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In electrical engineering metamaterials have been developed that offer unprecedented control over electromagnetic fields. Here, we show that general relativity provides the theoretical tools for designing devices made of such versatile materials. Given a desired device function, the theory describes the electromagnetic properties that turn this function into fact. We consider media that facilitate space-time transformations and include negative refraction. Our theory unifies the concepts operating behind the scenes of perfect invisibility devices, perfect lenses, the optical Aharonov–Bohm effect and electromagnetic analogues of the event horizon, and may lead to further applications.


PACS

04.20.-q Classical general relativity

42.15.Eq Optical system design

42.70.-a Optical materials

77.84.-s Dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and antiferroelectric materials

89.20.Kk Engineering

Subjects

Optics, quantum optics and lasers

Gravitation and cosmology

Dates

Issue 10 (October 2006)

Received 26 July 2006

Published 23 October 2006



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