Space-time wave packets that travel in optical materials at the speed of light in vacuum

被引:63
作者
Bhaduri, Basanta [1 ]
Yessenov, Murat [1 ]
Abouraddy, Ayman F. [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Cent Florida, CREOL, Coll Opt & Photon, Orlando, FL 32816 USA
来源
OPTICA | 2019年 / 6卷 / 02期
关键词
REFRACTIVE-INDEX; GROUP-VELOCITY; PROPAGATION; DISPERSION; PULSES; BEAMS; GENERATION; SOLVENTS; METERS;
D O I
10.1364/OPTICA.6.000139
中图分类号
O43 [光学];
学科分类号
070207 ; 0803 ;
摘要
Can an optical pulse traverse a non-dispersive material at the speed of light in vacuum? Because traditional approaches for controlling the group velocity of light manipulate either the material or structural resonances, an absence of dispersion altogether appears to exclude such a prospect. Here we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that "space-time" wave packets-pulsed beams in which the spatial and temporal degrees of freedom are tightly intertwined-can indeed traverse a non-dispersive transparent optical material at the speed of light in vacuum. We synthesize wave packets whose spatio-temporal spectra lie along the intersection of the material's light-cone with a spectral hyperplane tilted to coincide with the vacuum light-line. By measuring the group delay interferometrically with respect to a generic reference pulse, we confirm that the wave packet group velocity in a variety of materials (including water, glass, and sapphire) is the speed of light in vacuum. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement
引用
收藏
页码:139 / 146
页数:8
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