A Practical Superluminal Polarization Current Antenna: Theory, Design, and Construction

Extended sources of electromagnetic radiation that travel faster than light in vacuo have been built at Los Alamos National Laboratory for more than 15 years. Using accelerated polarization currents as their radiation mechanism, superluminal antennas have been shown to be surprisingly effective emitters of easily steerable, tightly focused beams. In what follows, we describe a superluminal light source whose circular dielectric imparts centripetal acceleration on the moving polarization. Originally designed as a fundamental physics experiment intended to mimic astronomical phenomena, it remains, at least from a science standpoint, the most consequential superluminal emitter constructed to date.