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Zero index waveguide for lightwaves

RayDunzl

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Hmm...

My reading comprehension circuits can't figure it out.

I think I get stuck on the "infinite wavelength" part.

"To a mathematician, infinity simply a number without limit. To a physicist, it's a monstrosity." - Michio Kaku - while discussing singularities under Einstein's formulae, and the problem encountered when trying to reconcile General Relativity with quantum equations, where you not only get the problematic infinity but an infinite sequence of them... "A nightmare beyond comprehension."

BBC - Who's Afraid of a Big Black Hole
See 19:00 to 21:24, and again at 39:41 to 41:29
 
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Blumlein 88

Blumlein 88

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Hmm...

My reading comprehension circuits can't figure it out.

I think I get stuck on the "infinite wavelength" part.

"To a mathematician, infinity simply a number without limit. To a physicist, it's a monstrosity." - Michio Kaku - while discussing singularities under Einstein's formulae, and the problem encountered when trying to reconcile General Relativity with quantum equations, where you not only get the problematic infinity but an infinite sequence of them... "A nightmare beyond comprehension."

BBC - Who's Afraid of a Big Black Hole
See 19:00 to 21:24, and again at 39:41 to 41:29

I think there was a loss in translation there. I think maybe really, really long wavelength equivalent is more like what they did. And it is interference effects on top of that. The smallest segment of an infinitely long wave is still infinite. So yes, your head explodes trying to deal with that.
 

RayDunzl

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DonH56

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Pretty neat. I worked on an electro-optical system once that used a light "phase-stretching" scheme then parsed the light to perform frequency and time separation of received signals (radar/lidar pulses at the time). Nothing with a refractive index of zero...
 
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