Abstract

The refraction of space-time (ST) wave packets offers many fascinating surprises with respect to conventional pulsed beams. In the first paper in this sequence [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 38, 1409 (2021) [CrossRef]  ], we theoretically described the refraction of all families of ST wave packets at normal and oblique incidence at a planar interface between two nondispersive, homogeneous, isotropic dielectrics. Here, in this second paper in the sequence, we present experimental verification of the refractive phenomena predicted for baseband ST wave packets upon normal incidence on a planar interface. Specifically, we observe group velocity invariance, normal and anomalous refraction, and group velocity inversion leading to group delay cancellation. These phenomena are verified in a set of optical materials with refractive indices ranging from 1.38 to 1.76, including ${{\rm MgF}_2}$, fused silica, BK7 glass, and sapphire. We also provide a geometrical representation of the physics associated with anomalous refraction in terms of the dynamics of the spectral support domain for ST wave packets on the surface of the light cone.

© 2021 Optical Society of America

Refraction of space-time wave packets: III. experiments at oblique incidence

Murat Yessenov, Alyssa M. Allende Motz, Basanta Bhaduri, and Ayman F. Abouraddy
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 38(10) 1462-1470 (2021)

Refraction of space-time wave packets: I. theoretical principles

Murat Yessenov, Basanta Bhaduri, and Ayman F. Abouraddy
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 38(10) 1409-1422 (2021)

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

Basanta Bhaduri, Murat Yessenov, and Ayman F. Abouraddy
Optica 6(2) 139-146 (2019)

Isochronous space–time wave packets

Alyssa M. Allende Motz, Murat Yessenov, and Ayman F. Abouraddy
Opt. Lett. 46(10) 2260-2263 (2021)

Space-time wave packets

Murat Yessenov, Layton A. Hall, Kenneth L. Schepler, and Ayman F. Abouraddy
Adv. Opt. Photon. 14(3) 455-570 (2022)