1996/10/15 by Jianyu Lu, Jian-yu Lu, J. F. Greenleaf +5 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Physics (physics.gen-ph) #Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron Lasers #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #physics.class-ph #physics.gen-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/9610012
paper submitted in ps form [also available in SGML language from the authors]. Figs.1-3 in postcript, and Figs.4-6 (by fax to SLAC) are sent separately
arxiv created 1996/10/15 · openalex publication_date 1996/10/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We have developed a new family of limited-diffraction electromagnetic X-shaped waves based on the scalar "X waves" discovered previously. These waves are diffraction-free in theory and particle-like (wave packets), in that they maintain their shape as they propagate to an infinite distance. The X waves possess (theoretically) infinitely extended arms, and --at least, the ones studied in this paper-- have an infinite total energy: therefore, they are not physically realizable. However, they can be truncated in both space and time and approximated by means of a finite aperture radiator so to get a large enough depth of interest (depth of field). In addition to the Maxwell equations, X wave solutions to the free Schroedinger equation are also obtained. Possible applications of these new waves are discussed. Finally, we discuss the appearance of the X-shaped solutions from the purely geometric point of view of the Special Relativity theory. [PACS nos. 03.40.Kf, 03.50.De, 41.20.Jb, 41.20.Bt, 42.25.Bs, 03.30.+p, 03.65.-w].