TY - JOUR
T1 - Electromagnetic duality symmetry and helicity conservation for the macroscopic maxwell's equations
AU - Fernandez-Corbaton, Ivan
AU - Zambrana-Puyalto, Xavier
AU - Tischler, Nora
AU - Vidal, Xavier
AU - Juan, Mathieu L.
AU - Molina-Terriza, Gabriel
PY - 2013/8/7
Y1 - 2013/8/7
N2 - In this Letter, we show that the electromagnetic duality symmetry, broken in the microscopic Maxwell's equations by the presence of charges, can be restored for the macroscopic Maxwell's equations. The restoration of this symmetry is shown to be independent of the geometry of the problem. These results provide a tool for the study of light-matter interactions within the framework of symmetries and conservation laws. We illustrate its use by determining the helicity content of the natural modes of structures possessing spatial inversion symmetries and by elucidating the root causes for some surprising effects in the scattering off magnetic spheres.
AB - In this Letter, we show that the electromagnetic duality symmetry, broken in the microscopic Maxwell's equations by the presence of charges, can be restored for the macroscopic Maxwell's equations. The restoration of this symmetry is shown to be independent of the geometry of the problem. These results provide a tool for the study of light-matter interactions within the framework of symmetries and conservation laws. We illustrate its use by determining the helicity content of the natural modes of structures possessing spatial inversion symmetries and by elucidating the root causes for some surprising effects in the scattering off magnetic spheres.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84881515002
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.060401
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.060401
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84881515002
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 111
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 6
M1 - 060401
ER -