Interaction of a dielectric waveguide mode with a resonant scatterer: Scattering properties, propelling force, and torque

A system of a resonant scatterer described as a two-level atom coupled to a circular dielectric waveguide is studied. The system is characterized by the scattering properties of a guided mode (guided transmission and reflection, bulk radiation) and optomechanical properties (propelling force and torque on the scatterer). The results are based on a self-consistent solution of the scattering problem using the Green's functions and cover the cases of scatterers inside and outside waveguides. It is shown that while a scatterer with a fixed dipole orientation gives rise to scattering spectra described by Lorentzian line shapes, an isotropic scatterer can produce non-Lorentzian line shapes. The parameters defining the line shape are analyzed. The complicated line shapes are likely to arise in the coherent characterization of an emerging class of photonic devices based on photon emitters coupled to well-confined modes of dielectric waveguides. It is obtained that the propelling force and axial torque on the scatterer at resonance can be directly expressed in terms of the spontaneous emission coupling factor (beta) of the system. The balances of the linear and angular momentum in the system are discussed. Numerical results are presented for strongly confined guided modes which allow efficient mode scattering and conversion of the linear and angular mode momentum to the force and torque, respectively.

Automated summary

This study investigates a resonant scatterer system consisting of a two-level atom coupled to a circular dielectric waveguide. The results show that a scatterer with fixed dipole orientation produces Lorentzian line-shaped scattering spectra, while an isotropic scatterer can produce non-Lorentzian line-shaped spectra. It was also found that the propelling force and axial torque on the scatterer can be directly expressed in terms of the spontaneous emission coupling factor of the system. The study also discusses the balance of linear and angular momentum in the system.