Scattering of light and electromagnetic waves by particles and cylinders is one of the most fundamental problems in classical electrodynamics, electromagnetics, and optics. Rayleigh made the first, to the best of our knowledge, quantitative study[
Chinese Optics Letters, Volume. 20, Issue 5, 053901(2022)
Unidirectional electromagnetic windmill scattering in a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder
We present a discovery of an unusual unidirectionally rotating windmill scattering of electromagnetic waves by a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder via an analytical theory for rigorous solution to fields and charges and an understanding of the underlying mathematical and physical mechanisms. Mathematically, the generation of nonzero off-diagonal components can break the symmetry of forward and backward scattering coefficients, producing unidirectional windmill scattering. Physically, this windmill scattering originates from the nonreciprocal unidirectional rotation of polarized magnetic charges on the surface of a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder, which drives the scattering field to radiate outward in the radial direction and unidirectionally emit in the tangential direction. Interestingly, the unidirectional electromagnetic windmill scattering is insensitive to the excitation direction. Moreover, we also discuss the size dependence of unidirectional windmill scattering by calculating the scattering spectra of the gyromagnetic cylinder. These results are helpful for exploring and understanding novel interactions between electromagnetic waves and gyromagnetic materials or structures and offer deep insights for comprehending topological photonic states in gyromagnetic systems from the aspect of fundamental classical electrodynamics and electromagnetics.
1. Introduction
Scattering of light and electromagnetic waves by particles and cylinders is one of the most fundamental problems in classical electrodynamics, electromagnetics, and optics. Rayleigh made the first, to the best of our knowledge, quantitative study[
Gyromagnetic material, as one of the most representative anisotropic media, possesses a unique permeability tensor with antisymmetrical and imaginary off-diagonal components[
Most of the previous works rely on band theories and mathematically topological concepts to understand the existence of TPS and have achieved great successes. Nevertheless, only a few of them have explained the formation mechanism of the unique behavior of the energy vortex unidirectionally rotating and cycling around the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder, which is the most important feature of TPS; hereafter, we call it electromagnetic windmill scattering. Generally, there is a simple thought that this originates from the time reversal symmetry breaking of the system[
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In this Letter, we present the rigorous solutions to the electromagnetic scattering of a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder via analytical theory, where the model is schematically illustrated in Fig. 1(a), and uncover an unusual unidirectionally rotating windmill scattering phenomenon of electromagnetic waves. We will disclose and reveal the physical origin of this unique electromagnetic windmill scattering from well-established fundamental principles and quantities of electrodynamics and electromagnetics, as plotted in Fig. 1(b). We find that the incoming plane wave can excite unidirectionally rotating polarized magnetic charges on the boundary of the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder (marked as the dotted arrows). As a result, the scattering field radiates outward in the radial direction and emits unidirectionally in the tangential direction (marked as the solid arrows) to form the unique electromagnetic windmill scattering. Interestingly, the unidirectional electromagnetic windmill scattering is insensitive to the excitation direction. Moreover, we also discuss the size dependence of unidirectional windmill scattering by calculating the scattering spectra of the gyromagnetic cylinder.
Figure 1.Model and physics. (a) Geometry model of analytical theory. (b) Physical mechanism of electromagnetic windmill scattering.
2. Analytical Theory
We first present the rigorous analytical solution to the electromagnetic scattering of a plane wave by the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder. The gyromagnetic cylinder [yttrium-ion-garnet (YIG)] of radius with relative permittivity is embedded in air ( and ), as shown in Fig. 1. When a direct current (dc) magnetic field is applied in the out-of-plane (-axis) direction, the permeability tensor of the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder is of antisymmetric form as[
Without loss of generality, the time dependence of a harmonic electromagnetic wave is assumed to be . The electric and magnetic fields of the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder satisfy the following Maxwell’s equations:
To simplify, we only consider the transverse-electric (TE) incident wave, defined by wave vector , with its electric field polarized along the -axis direction, so and . In cylindrical coordinates, the plane wave can be expanded into the sum of a series of cylindrical waves by the Jacobi–Anger identity, so the fields of every eigenstate have the dependence with being the azimuthal angle and being the azimuthal quantum number. Notably, the positive and negative represent the clockwise and counterclockwise rotating eigenstates, respectively.
When an incident plane wave with frequency impinges upon the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder, the total field can be written as the sum of the elementary incident field and the secondary scattering field arising from the polarized cylinder. The solutions of the electric field inside and outside of the cylinder can be expressed as[
Solving Maxwell’s equations together with the boundary conditions yields the scattering coefficients given by
3. Electromagnetic Windmill Scattering
We perform numerical calculations based on the analytical solutions on the electric field patterns of a left-incident plane wave at , illuminating the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder. The external magnetic field is . Figures 2 and 3 show the electric field distributions at different time phases for radius and , respectively, and one should note that is the period of time phases. As shown in Fig. 2, a clear counterclockwise dipole-like radiation state is dominantly excited on the cylinder. As time elapses, the two poles with prominent tails of light, together with the whole electric field, rotate counterclockwise, leading to the two-blade windmill scattering electric field distribution (for better visual effect, see
Figure 2.Numerical calculation results of R1 = 4.20 mm. (a) t = 0T, (b) t = T/4, (c) t = T/2, (d) t = 3T/4.
Figure 3.Numerical calculation results of R2 = 6.76 mm. (a) t = 0T, (b) t = T/4, (c) t = T/2, (d) t = 3T/4.
For the case of , Fig. 3 shows a counterclockwise quadrupole-like windmill electric field distribution unidirectionally rotating and cycling around the cylinder, also with prominent tails of light (for better visual effect, see
We have shown the electric field distributions of the gyromagnetic cylinder at different time phases to observe the unidirectional windmill scattering. Here, we proceed to calculate the energy flux or Poynting vector distribution to exhibit the time-averaged responses in both near-field and far-field. The plane wave at is incident from the left port (marked as the thick white arrows). The energy flux and electric field distributions of and are superposed together, as shown in Figs. 4(a) and 4(b). In near-field, the majority of energy flux is concentrated on the gyromagnetic cylinder and rotates counterclockwise to form two clear counterclockwise energy flux loops, while in far-field, the prominent tails of the dipole and quadrupole exist, as seen by the thin white arrows in Fig. 4.
Figure 4.Energy flux (Poynting vector) distribution of unidirectional windmill scattering. (a) R1 = 4.20 mm, (b) R2 = 6.76 mm. The thick white arrows indicate the left-incident plane wave at f = 4.0 GHz. The thin white arrows represent the energy flux distribution, and the directions of the thin white arrows indicate the transport direction of energy fluxes.
4. Mathematical Mechanism
Next, we analyze the mathematical mechanism of nonreciprocal unidirectional windmill scattering from the electromagnetic scattering coefficient formulae. We can see that for the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder, the existence of a nonzero off-diagonal component () induces the appearance of a linear term related with the azimuthal quantum number in the tangential magnetic field, as seen in Eq. (5), so that the symmetry between positive and negative of the tangential magnetic field is broken. This result indicates that the clockwise and counterclockwise rotating tangential magnetic fields are asymmetrical, so the propagation behaviors of the tangential magnetic field are nonreciprocal, reflecting the effect of the time reversal symmetry breaking. On the other hand, for the tangential magnetic field outside of the cylinder, since it is a nonmagnetic medium, there is no additional linear term related to [see Eq. (6)], so the positive- and negative- tangential magnetic fields are symmetrical, and the propagation behaviors of the tangential magnetic fields are reciprocal.
However, the nonreciprocal propagation of the tangential magnetic field inside the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder can be transferred to the air through the boundary conditions (i.e., and are continuous at the boundary) and cause the term [possessing a linear term related to , i.e., ] that appears in the scattering coefficients and . In this case, and are linearly independent, so the positive and negative th-order scattering coefficients of the electric fields are not equal (i.e., and ), indicating that the clockwise and counterclockwise scattering electric fields are asymmetrical.
Therefore, this mathematical analysis enables us to get a clear physical picture where the strong imbalance between the asymmetrical clockwise and counterclockwise rotation eigenstates forms the traveling-like wave state instead of the standing-like wave state when in the reciprocal case. In addition to radiating outward, the scattering wave will rotate and cycle around the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder, leading to the generation of the unique unidirectional windmill scattering. This physical picture given by the mathematical analysis is completely consistent with the peculiar electric field transport characteristics as calculated by the analytical theory in Section 3. Notably, when the cylindrical coordinate transfers to the rectangular coordinate, the nonzero off-diagonal component will break the symmetry of forward and backward scattering coefficients, instead of the clockwise and counterclockwise scattering coefficients.
On the contrary, when the external magnetic field is removed, the permeability tensor reduces to scalar, i.e., and . The linear term related to disappears, i.e., . In this case, and are linearly dependent, and the positive and negative th-order scattering coefficients are the same, i.e., and . As a result, the completely balanced interference of the symmetrical clockwise and counterclockwise rotation eigenstates forms the standing-like wave state instead of the traveling-like wave state, so the scattering field only radiates outward in the radial direction without any deflection in the tangential direction. Thus, the scattering electromagnetic field will be symmetrical about the direction of the incoming plane wave, in complete consistence with the scattering field distribution around a nonmagnetic dielectric cylinder[
5. Physical Mechanism
Section 3 has shown the unidirectional windmill scattering calculated by analytical theoretical solutions, and this unique phenomenon is completely consistent with the clear physical picture given by mathematical analysis in Section 4, but the physical origin is still unclear. From the basic physical point of view, the macroscopic electromagnetic scattering by the medium should be the result of the interaction between the incoming electromagnetic field and the polarization charge or the magnetized current. Thus, solving the polarized magnetic charge distribution within the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder becomes the key to revealing the microscopic physical origin of the macroscopic electromagnetic windmill scattering.
We obtain the polarized magnetic charge density via the formula based on simultaneous equations and , where , , and are the magnetization, magnetic strength, and magnetic field strength, respectively[
Obviously, the positive and negative th-order and of the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder are not equal, so the magnetization is also asymmetrical. Then, the distribution of polarized magnetic charge density can be derived.
We calculate the polarized magnetic charge distributions of the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder for and at different time phases and display the results in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. The polarized magnetic charges are dominantly concentrated on the boundary of the cylinder, and the positive and negative of them represent the expansion and contraction of the scattering field during the rotation motion, respectively. We can see that their rotation motions are clearly visualized, which are completely consistent with the rotating and cycling windmill motion of their electric fields. For the case of (see Fig. 5), as time elapses, the polarized magnetic charges rotate counterclockwise along the boundary of the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder (for better visual effect, see
Figure 5.Polarized magnetic charge distribution of a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder with R1 = 4.20 mm.
Figure 6.Polarized magnetic charge distribution of a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder with R2 = 6.76 mm.
6. Scattering Properties in Various Directions
More excitingly, this unique unidirectional windmill scattering is insensitive to the excitation direction. The plane wave incident in various directions always excites the counterclockwise rotation scattering field. For example, when the right-incident and up-incident plane waves at illuminate on the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder with , they both excite the dipole-like windmill scattering state that rotates counterclockwise (instead of clockwise) and only have a time phase difference in their field distribution, as shown in Figs. 7(a) and 7(b) (for better visual effect, see
Figure 7.Numerical calculation results of the incident plane waves in different directions. (a), (b) Magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder. (c), (d) Nonmagnetized gyromagnetic cylinder. (a), (c) Right-incident. (b), (d) Up-incident.
7. Size Dependence of Unidirectional Windmill Scattering
Finally, we proceed to discuss the size dependence of unidirectional windmill scattering by calculating the normalized scattering spectra of the gyromagnetic cylinder at a radius ranging from 3.00 mm to 10.00 mm. The excited frequency of the left-incident plane wave is . As illustrated in Fig. 8, three high peaks exist at , , and . The electric field and energy flux distributions of these three cases are plotted as the insets of Fig. 8. One can see that there are dipole-like, quadrupole-like, and hexapole-like electric field distributions in the cases of , , and , respectively, and this is because the excitation of these multipole states strongly enhances the scattering strength. Notably, the nonreciprocal scattering field also can be excited at other radii in the presence of the gyromagnetic effect of the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder, but the clear counterclockwise unidirectional multipole windmill scattering only can be formed at these special radii.
Figure 8.Normalized scattering spectra varying with the radius of the magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder. Three insets indicate the electric field and energy flux distributions of R1, R2, and R3.
8. Discussion and Conclusions
The analytical solutions of electromagnetic wave scattering by a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder and explicit formulae on the spatial–temporal evolution of two critical physical quantities as the electromagnetic field and polarized magnetized charges enable us to comprehend the formation mechanism of unusual electromagnetic windmill scattering with prominent tails of light both in mathematics and in physics. Interestingly, this phenomenon is very similar to the windmill fireworks seen in real life. When the launcher is stationary, the fireworks only spray in the radial direction, whereas when the launcher rotates counterclockwise, the launcher will provide a tangential speed for the sprayed fireworks to produce the windmill firework emission pattern (for better visual effect, see
In conclusion, we have shown the rigorous explicit solutions and discovery of an unusual electromagnetic windmill scattering by a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder. We have clarified the underlying mathematical and physical origins via analytical theory and numerical calculation and found that the unbalanced scattering coefficients for the same-order clockwise and counterclockwise cylindrical waves and unidirectionally rotating and cycling polarized magnetic charges along the air-cylinder boundary are the critical physical entities governing the observed unique nonreciprocal windmill scattering of the electromagnetic wave and field. Our results will have great significance not only in basic electrodynamics, electromagnetics, and topological photonics, but also in novel design of photonic devices[
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Jianfeng Chen, Jianbo Pan, Yidong Zheng, Wenyao Liang, Zhi-Yuan Li, "Unidirectional electromagnetic windmill scattering in a magnetized gyromagnetic cylinder," Chin. Opt. Lett. 20, 053901 (2022)
Category: Microwave Photonics
Received: Dec. 22, 2022
Accepted: Mar. 7, 2022
Posted: Mar. 8, 2022
Published Online: Apr. 12, 2022
The Author Email: Zhi-Yuan Li (phzyli@scut.edu.cn)