About

Masud Mansuripur is a professor at the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. He is affiliated with the Roshan Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Persian and Iranian Studies, where he contributes to the academic community. His contact information includes a phone number (520-621-4879) and an email address (masud@optics.arizona.edu). The page indicates his involvement in interdisciplinary studies, but does not provide specific details about his research focus, background, or key contributions.

Research topics

• Physics
• Quantum mechanics
• Theoretical physics
• Quantum electrodynamics
• Classical mechanics

Selected publications

• Multipolar electromagnetic radiation

  2025-09-16

  article1st authorCorresponding

  An oscillating electric dipole, localized at the origin of coordinates and represented by a three-dimensional delta-function in the xyz-space, radiates a classical electromagnetic (EM) field into its surrounding free space at its oscillation frequency ω. Combinations of delta-functions and their various derivatives with respect to x, y, and z can be similarly used to model electric as well as magnetic multipole radiators. We examine the emitted EM energy and angular momentum for several multipoles modeled by such localized oscillators. A quantum interpretation of these classical results can be loosely related to photoemission processes involving transitions between various electronic states of an atom or a molecule.

  PublisherDOI

• Quantization of the electromagnetic field, entropy of an ideal monoatomic gas, and the birth of the Bose-Einstein statistics

  2025-03-21

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In 1924, Einstein received a short manuscript in the mail from the Indian physicist S.N. Bose. He quickly translated Bose’s manuscript to German and submitted it to <i>Zeitschrift für Physik</i>. Within a few weeks, Einstein presented his own findings (using a generalization of Bose’s counting method) to a session of the <i>Prussian Academy of Sciences</i>. Whereas Bose had suggested a new counting method for the quanta of the electromagnetic field&#8212;one that yielded Planck’s blackbody radiation formula&#8212;Einstein applied Bose’s method to an ideal monoatomic gas. Shortly afterward, Einstein presented to the <i>Academy</i> a follow-up paper in which he described the Bose-Einstein condensation for the first time. The present paper describes some of the fascinating issues that Einstein struggled with as he attempted to unify the quantum-statistical properties of matter with those of the electromagnetic field.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A rigorous coupled-wave analysis of birefringent holographic gratings with periodically-modulated dielectric tensor along an in-plane direction and tensor variations in the thickness direction

  2025-09-15

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Diffraction of light upon interaction with thick slabs of a dielectric material having a periodic modulation of its refractive index (or dielectric tensor) is typically studied with the aid of the method known as the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA). The method involves solving Maxwell’s equations for a large number of coupled electromagnetic plane-waves inside the dielectric slab, then matching the boundary conditions at the interface between the incidence medium and the slab, as well as those at the interface between the slab and the transmittance medium. In this way, one obtains the <i>E</i>-field and <i>H</i>-field amplitudes for all the reflected and transmitted plane-waves (i.e., diffraction orders as well as evanescent waves) that emerge within the incidence and transmittance media. If the refractive index (or dielectric tensor) of the holographic slab happens to vary in the thickness direction, one treats the slab as a number of thin layers stacked upon each other, then computes and combines the scattering matrices of these layers to arrive at the complete solution for the entire stack. The goal of the present paper is to extend the standard RCWA method to the case where the hologram’s dielectric tensor varies in the thickness direction (in addition to being periodically modulated along an in-plane axis), without slicing up the thick hologram into a number of thin layers. The reflected and transmitted plane-waves in this case exhibit a large degree of degeneracy, but our numerical results confirm the validity and the accuracy of our proposed algorithm for handling such degeneracies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The continuum limit of k-space cavity angular momentum

  AIP Advances · 2025-05-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  A wavepacket (electromagnetic or otherwise) within an isotropic and homogeneous space can be quantized on a regular lattice of discrete k-vectors. Each k-vector is associated with a temporal frequency ω; together, k and ω represent a propagating plane wave. While the total energy and total linear momentum of the packet can be readily apportioned among its individual plane wave constituents, the same cannot be said about the packet’s total angular momentum. One can show, in the case of a reasonably smooth (i.e., continuous and differentiable) wavepacket, that the overall angular momentum is expressible as an integral over the k-space continuum involving only the Fourier transform of the field and its k-space gradients. In this sense, the angular momentum is a property not of individual plane waves, but of plane wave pairs that are adjacent neighbors in the space inhabited by the k-vectors and it can be said to be localized in the k-space. Strange as it might seem, this hallmark property of angular momentum does not automatically emerge from an analysis of a discretized k-space. In fact, the discrete analysis shows the angular momentum to be distributed among k-vectors that pair not only with nearby k-vectors but also with those that are far away. The goal of the present paper is to resolve the discrepancy between the discrete calculations and those performed on the continuum, by establishing the conditions under which the highly nonlocal sum over plane wave pairs in the discrete k-space approaches the localized distribution of angular momentum in continuum k-space.

  PublisherDOI

• Quantum fluctuations and noise in interferometry and photodetection: applications in optical sensing and micromanipulation

  2024-10-02

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Accurate optical sensing and micromanipulation requires sensitive measurements of the position, orientation, and dynamics of small particles—and sometimes even large objects—under consideration. The signals acquired in the process, including those needed for the feedback control of these particles and objects, are inevitably contaminated by quantum fluctuations and noise that accompany the physical processes of optical interference and photodetection (or photon counting). This paper explores the origins of signal fluctuation and quantum noise that are inevitably associated with such sensitive measurements.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Does one still need to “shut up and calculate”?

  2024-03-08

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In learning quantum mechanics, an essential question has always been: How does one go about developing a “physical feel” for quantum phenomena? Naturally, one needs a basis or ground zero to start from, and that basis must be unlike anything with which we are already familiar in consequence of our experiences with the world of classical physics. We argue (channeling Richard Feynman) that the most elementary and the least cumbersome concept to build upon is the existence of complex probability amplitudes for physical events. An event that can take place in multiple alternative ways should be treated by adding the corresponding amplitudes when the paths are, in principle, indistinguishable, and by adding the probabilities themselves when the paths are distinguishable. Once we accept this principle and hone our intuition by examining quantum phenomena in its light, we will be on the path to "understanding" quantum mechanics. Elementary examples from the field of quantum optics demonstrate how adherence to Feynman’s principle could lead to a better, more “intuitive” appreciation for the magic of quantum mechanics.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Electromagnetic angular momentum of quantized wavepackets in free space

  2023-10-05 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  A single electromagnetic plane-wave propagating in free space possesses neither spin nor orbital angular momentum. Both types of angular momentum arise from interference between pairs of plane-waves having the same temporal frequency 𝜔 but differing 𝑘-vectors 𝒌1 and 𝒌2. While it is fairly straightforward to evaluate a wavepacket’s spin and orbital angular momenta in the (𝒌, 𝜔) continuum by means of Fourier transformation, obtaining the same results by discretizing the (𝒌, 𝜔) space, then attempting to approach the continuum limit via an infinite enlargement of the spatial volume under consideration, is fraught with danger.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Optical Sciences Winter School for enabling future students in optics society

  2023-06-28

  articleOpen access

  Optical Sciences and Photonics are areas of growing importance that are too often missing from traditional undergraduate science and engineering curricula. Often, aspects of optics and photonics are picked up as side topics in undergraduate and graduate courses along the way to obtaining more traditional STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees. Since 2016, the annual Optical Sciences Winter School has been held during the winter break of the University of Arizona’s academic calendar. Its annual participants are now approximately 50 – 60 undergraduate students (mostly juniors and seniors) from US (United States) Universities who demonstrate an aptitude and talent for science and research. These students participate in a three- to five-day immersion experience, learning the many opportunities and benefits that choosing optics and photonics for their graduate studies can offer. The Optical Sciences Winter School (OSWS) brings together a motivated group of undergraduate students for a series of overview lectures teaching foundational topics in optics and their relation to current research. It also provides a forum for faculty, alumni, and invited guests to share results, approaches and methodologies in optics and photonics research and education that are unique to the undergraduate setting. This event is not focused on a specific school’s program but tries to highlight the diverse optics programs in the US. Many sessions in the program are filled with various invited faculties and researchers’ presentations from prominent optical physics and engineering undergraduate or graduate institutions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Fundamental properties of beamsplitters in classical and quantum optics

  American Journal of Physics · 2023 · 9 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Physics
  • Quantum mechanics
  • Theoretical physics

  A lossless beamsplitter has certain (complex-valued) probability amplitudes for sending an incoming photon into one of two possible directions. We use elementary laws of classical and quantum optics to obtain general relations among the magnitudes and phases of these probability amplitudes. Proceeding to examine a pair of (nearly) single-mode wavepackets in the number-states n1 and n2 that simultaneously arrive at the splitter's input ports, we find the distribution of photon-number states at the output ports using an argument inspired by Feynman's scattering analysis of indistinguishable Bose particles. The result thus obtained coincides with that of the standard quantum-optical treatment of beamsplitters via annihilation and creation operators â and â†. A simple application of the Feynman method provides a form of justification for the Bose enhancement implicit in the well-known formulas ân=nn−1 and â†n=n+1n+1.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The continuum limit of k-space cavity angular momentum is controlled by an infinite range difference operator

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2023-11-03 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  A wavepacket (electromagnetic or otherwise) within an isotropic and homogeneous space can be quantized on a regular lattice of discrete k-vectors. Each k-vector is associated with a temporal frequency omega; together, k and omega represent a propagating plane-wave. While the total energy and total linear momentum of the packet can be readily apportioned among its individual plane-wave constituents, the same cannot be said about the packet's total angular momentum. One can show, in the case of a reasonably smooth (i.e., continuous and differentiable) wave packet, that the overall angular momentum is expressible as an integral over the k-space continuum involving only the Fourier transform of the field and its k-space gradients. In this sense, the angular momentum is a property not of individual plane-waves, but of plane-wave pairs that are adjacent neighbors in the space inhabited by the k-vectors, and can be said to be localized in the k-space. Strange as it might seem, this hallmark property of angular momentum does not automatically emerge from an analysis of a discretized k-space. In fact, the discrete analysis shows the angular momentum to be distributed among k-vectors that pair not only with nearby k-vectors but also with those that are far away. The goal of the present paper is to resolve the discrepancy between the discrete calculations and those performed on the continuum, by establishing the conditions under which the highly non-local sum over plane-wave pairs in the discrete k-space would approach the localized distribution of the angular momentum across the continuum of the k-space.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jerome V. Moloney

  55 shared

• Armis R. Zakharian

  Corning (United States)

  50 shared

• J. Kevin Erwin

  University of Arizona

  41 shared

• Chubing Peng

  Seagate (United States)

  36 shared

• Roscoe Giles

  35 shared

• Pavel Polynkin

  34 shared

• Pramod K. Khulbe

  University of Arizona

  32 shared

• 順平 辻内

  32 shared

Education

• PhD in Electrical Engineering, Electrical Engineering

  Stanford University