Optical analogue of the event horizon demonstrated with microstructured fibers - art. no. 69871C

Black holes are like space-time rivers: their geometry can be viewed as if space were a moving medium rushing towards their singularities. Horizons are formed where the flow speed exceeds the speed of light, such that nothing can escape anymore. Realizing this idea with ultrashort pulses in microstructured optical fibers, we performed the first experimental demonstration of an artificial event horizon in optics.</p

Fiber-optical analog of the event horizon

Copyright © 2008 American Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe physics at the event horizon resembles the behavior of waves in moving media. Horizons are formed where the local speed of the medium exceeds the wave velocity. We used ultrashort pulses in microstructured optical fibers to demonstrate the formation of an artificial event horizon in optics. We observed a classical optical effect: the blue-shifting of light at a white-hole horizon. We also showed by theoretical calculations that such a system is capable of probing the quantum effects of horizons, in particular Hawking radiation