Abstract

Space-time (ST) wave packets are diffraction-free, dispersion-free pulsed beams whose propagation invariance stems from correlations introduced into their spatio-temporal spectra. We demonstrate here experimentally and computationally that ST light sheets exhibit self-healing properties upon traversing obstacles in the form of opaque obstructions. The unscattered fraction of the wave packet retains the spatio-temporal correlations and, thus, propagation invariance is maintained. The scattered component does not satisfy the requisite correlation and thus, undergoes diffractive spreading. These results indicate the robustness of ST wave packets and their potential utility for deep illumination and imaging in scattering media, such as biological tissues.

© 2018 Optical Society of America

Meters-long propagation of diffraction-free space-time light-sheets

Basanta Bhaduri, Murat Yessenov, and Ayman F. Abouraddy
Opt. Express 26(16) 20111-20121 (2018)

Broadband space-time wave packets propagating 70  m

Basanta Bhaduri, Murat Yessenov, Danielle Reyes, Jessica Pena, Monjurul Meem, Shermineh Rostami Fairchild, Rajesh Menon, Martin Richardson, and Ayman F. Abouraddy
Opt. Lett. 44(8) 2073-2076 (2019)

Space-time vector light sheets

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Opt. Express 29(23) 37225-37233 (2021)

Synthesizing broadband propagation-invariant space-time wave packets using transmissive phase plates

H. Esat Kondakci, Murat Yessenov, Monjurul Meem, Danielle Reyes, Daniel Thul, Shermineh Rostami Fairchild, Martin Richardson, Rajesh Menon, and Ayman F. Abouraddy
Opt. Express 26(10) 13628-13638 (2018)

Interferometric phase stability from Gaussian and space–time light sheets

Mbaye Diouf, Zixi Lin, Mitchell Harling, Krishangi Krishna, and Kimani C. Toussaint
Optica 10(9) 1161-1164 (2023)