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Canonical energy backflow in diffraction of a plane wave by a half-plane
A.A. Kovalev1,2, A.G. Nalimov1,2, A.M. Telegin1,2

1 Image Processing Systems Institute, NRC "Kurchatov Institute", Molodogvardeyskaya Str. 151, Samara, 443001, Russia;
2 Samara National Research University, Moskovskoye Shosse 34, Samara, 443086, Russia

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DOI: 10.18287/COJ1731

Article ID: 1731

Language: Russian

Abstract:
In this work, we show that during diffraction of a plane wave by an opaque screen with a rectangular edge, a set of light strips parallel to the screen edge are formed by a negative (reverse) canonical energy flux in the transmitted light. This result is observed at any distance from the screen plane along the optical axis in planes parallel to the screen. Moreover, the local period of these strips decreases with distance from the edge, and the first strip with a reverse canonical energy flux moves away from the edge with an increase in the distance along the optical axis. The reverse flow is shown to be formed in the diffraction pattern regions where the phase and intensity modulation is less than the wavelength. So, it is observed where the local wave vector expressed through the phase gradient is greater than the wave vector of the incident wave.

Keywords:
linear polarization, longitudinal canonical (orbital) energy flux, diffraction on a half plane.

Acknowledgements:
The work was partly funded by the Russian Science Foundation under grant #26-12-00117 (Theoretical analysis) and NRC "Kurchatov Institute" within the government project (Numerical simulation).

Citation:
Kovalev AA, Nalimov AG, Telegin AM. Canonical energy backflow in diffraction of a plane wave by a half-plane. Computer Optics 2026; 50(3): 1731. doi: 10.18287/COJ1731.

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