title: Optical analogues for massless dirac particles and conical diffraction in one dimension.
abstract: We demonstrate that light propagating in an appropriately designed lattice can exhibit dynamics akin to that expected from massless relativistic particles as governed by the one-dimensional Dirac equation. This is accomplished by employing a waveguide array with alternating positive and negative effective coupling coefficients, having a band structure with two intersecting minibands. Through this approach optical analogues of massless particle-antiparticle pairs are experimentally realized. One-dimensional conical diffraction is also observed for the first time in this work.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Zeuner
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Efremidis
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dreisow
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Christodoulides
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tünnermann
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nolte
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szameit