Academic Physics Research
In general, the academic research interests of Colin Baxter encompass areas of quantum optics, atomic physics, quantum electrodynamics and fundamental problems. Some particular issues that are under current investigation are given below in the Table of Contents.
Table of Contents
Radiation Pressure
Accelerated Atoms
Topological Effects in (1+2) Dimensions
Radiation Pressure
The action of an electromagnetic field on a dielectric material medium produces
mechanical effects, which are intrinsically profound and may also have extensive
practical uses in nanotechnology.
It is suggested by a recent paper and by current work that conservation equations involving the spatial components of the electromagnetic (Maxwell), Abraham, Minkowski and Einstein-Laub tensors are equivalent statements of Maxwell's equations applied to a homogeneous, linear and dispersionless material medium, and that the Abraham, Minkowski and Einstein-Laub tensors are defined only in such a medium.
Accelerated Atoms
An accelerated 2-level atom becomes excited when accelerated through a Minkowski vacuum.
This is the Unruh effect.
Previous work on accelerated atoms or oscillators seem largely to use either
a Langevin equation or a master equation approach.
I am looking at problems in this area from a canonical view, evaluating the operators
at a general proper-time and introducing a general gauge transformation.
Topological Effects in (1+2) Dimensions
Quantum systems behave differently in a reduced number of space-time dimensions, and topological effects may be present in in light beams that possess angular momentum. This may be analogous to the effect of an ion moving in a constant magnetic field, which is considered as a
generic example of two-dimensional topological (Chern-Simons) theory.
