On photonic tunnelling and the possibility of superluminal transport of electromagnetic energy

Abstract

Motivated by the increased interest in experiments in which light appears to propagate by tunnelling at superluminal velocity, the Lorentz invariant theory proposed by Partha Ghose to explain these surprising effects is revisited. This theory is based on the Harish-Chandra formalism, which describes the relativistic dynamics of a massless spin-1 boson, like a photon. By this formalism, the Bohmian average transport velocity of the electromagnetic energy is formulated. It is proved that this velocity can be superluminal if the dielectric making the waveguide is non-absorptive and non-dispersive. This result is validated in the framework of quantum electrodynamics, demonstrating that the average velocity of the photon inside the waveguide is given by the contribution of instantaneous superluminal velocities. This theory, therefore, suggests the optimal conditions for designing the optical devices capable of locally transporting electromagnetic energy at superluminal velocities mitigating signal attenuation.