Light drag in nonuniformly moving anisotropic media through the lens of gradient-index optics
Phys. Rev. E 113, 045205 – Published 2 April, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/8gx6-rnrf
Abstract
The trajectory of light rays propagating through a nonuniformly moving anisotropic medium is determined by considering the Fresnel drag experienced by the wave at each point along the ray. By showing that symmetries in the velocity field manifest as symmetries in the effective wave index representing the moving medium, methods classically employed to model gradient-index media are then used to obtain analytical forms for the ray trajectory. When applied to isotropic media, the results are verified to be consistent with those obtained using an optical (Gordon) metric. The potential of this method to model light rays in anisotropic media is finally demonstrated by considering waves in a nonuniformly moving magnetized plasma, exposing how nonuniform motion and anisotropy can compete with one another.
