Image Rotation in Plasmas

Because of the speed of light compared to material motion, the dragging of light is difficult to observe under laboratory conditions. Here, we report on the first observation of image rotation, i.e., a dragging by the medium of the wave's transverse structure, of Alfvén waves in plasmas. Exploiting the naturally slow group velocity of these waves, significant wave rotation is achieved for modest angular frequency. Control over the rotation of the wave's structure is demonstrated through the plasma rotation imposed by biased electrodes. Remarkably, experimental results are well reproduced by light dragging theory derived for isotropic media, even if magnetized plasmas are anisotropic. In addition to offering new insights into the fundamental issue of angular momentum coupling between waves and media, these findings also open possibilities for new remote rotation sensing tools.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical Review Letters
Published
2025-05-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/swrn-w3yf
Primary Topic
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Image Rotation in Plasmas

Shreekrishna Tripathi, Patrick Pribyl, N. J. Fisch, Renaud Gueroult et al.
Physical Review Letters
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
article

Image Rotation in Plasmas

Shreekrishna Tripathi, Patrick Pribyl, N. J. Fisch, Renaud Gueroult, Jean-Marcel Rax, Jia Han
article en

Abstract

Because of the speed of light compared to material motion, the dragging of light is difficult to observe under laboratory conditions. Here, we report on the first observation of image rotation, i.e., a dragging by the medium of the wave's transverse structure, of Alfvén waves in plasmas. Exploiting the naturally slow group velocity of these waves, significant wave rotation is achieved for modest angular frequency. Control over the rotation of the wave's structure is demonstrated through the plasma rotation imposed by biased electrodes. Remarkably, experimental results are well reproduced by light dragging theory derived for isotropic media, even if magnetized plasmas are anisotropic. In addition to offering new insights into the fundamental issue of angular momentum coupling between waves and media, these findings also open possibilities for new remote rotation sensing tools.

Physical Review LettersVol. 134(24)
University of California, Los Angeles (US), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Princeton University (US), Université Paris Cité (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d'Energie (FR), Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie (FR), Technology International Incorporated of Virginia (United States) (US)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, University of California, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut des sciences de l'ingénierie et des systèmes
Openalex Percentile: Top 92%
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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