FIZEAUS EXPERIMENT AND THE AHARONOV-BOHM EFFECT

The electromagnetic wave equations in a moving medium may be approximated by a form similar to that of the Schrodinger equation for a particle in an electromagnetic field, with the velocity v of the medium and the vorticity del xv playing the roles of the vector potential and magnetic field, respectively. A purely classical optical analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect follows by consideration of the interference pattern produced by two beams, each of which propagates in a region with zero vorticity, but such that the flux of the vorticity through the closed loop defined by the optical paths does not vanish. Fizeau's experiment (1851) on the velocity of light in moving media may be regarded as an example of such a situation. (C) 1995 American Association of Physics Teachers.