Description
Although the effects of motion on wave dynamics are well documented in isotropic dielectrics, they remain largely unexplored and unaccounted for in plasmas, despite the fact that simple models suggest they could in fact be large under certain conditions, as well as recent experimental observations [1].
Part of the challenge lies in the fact that theoretical models for these effects in plasmas remain scarce, and for the most part limited to simple plasma models and geometrical configurations. For this reason, and although these models have brought valuable insights into the mechanisms at play, quantifying motion effects in realistic configurations remains an open problem. This is particularly true if one is interested in properties beyond the wave trajectory, for instance its polarization.
A challenge in modelling waves in moving media is that a non-uniform motion appears as inhomogeneities in the medium’s properties as seen from the laboratory frame, which limits dramatically what can be learned from plane wave models. This challenge can however be dealt with by working with quasi-plane waves, that is to say considering next order corrections to geometrical optics models.
In this talk we will discuss what has been learned on the effect of motion on wave dynamics through extended geometrical optics, in particular how trajectory and polarization effects arise in this framework in a consistent manner [2,3], and how these results offer a platform to model motion effects in plasmas.
[1] Gueroult et al., Phys Rev. Lett., 134, 254101 (2025)
[2] Braud and Gueroult, Phys. Rev. A, 112, 043505 (2025)
[3] Braud and Gueroult, arXiv: 2601.18624 (2026)
- This work was supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), under grant ANR-21-CE30-0002 (project WaRP).