Spatiotemporal steering of non-diffracting wavepackets

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Wang, Haiwen, Guo, Cheng, Fan, Shanhui
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Wang, Haiwen
Guo, Cheng
Fan, Shanhui
author_facet Wang, Haiwen
Guo, Cheng
Fan, Shanhui
contents We study the dynamics of space-time non-diffracting wavepackets, commonly known as light bullets, in a spatiotemporally varying medium. We show that by spatiotemporal refraction, a monochromatic focused beam can be converted to a light bullet that propagates at a given velocity. By further designing the index profile of the spatiotemporal boundary, the group velocity and the propagation direction of the light bullet can be engineered in a programmable way. All effects mentioned above cannot be achieved by spatial or temporal boundaries, and are only possible with spatiotemporal boundaries. These findings provide unique ways to engineer the dynamics of electromagnetic wavepackets in space-time. Such wavepackets with engineered spacetime trajectories may find potential applications in the spatiotemporal control of material properties or particles, or for use as a way to emulate relativistic physics in the laboratory.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_10577
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spatiotemporal steering of non-diffracting wavepackets
Wang, Haiwen
Guo, Cheng
Fan, Shanhui
Optics
We study the dynamics of space-time non-diffracting wavepackets, commonly known as light bullets, in a spatiotemporally varying medium. We show that by spatiotemporal refraction, a monochromatic focused beam can be converted to a light bullet that propagates at a given velocity. By further designing the index profile of the spatiotemporal boundary, the group velocity and the propagation direction of the light bullet can be engineered in a programmable way. All effects mentioned above cannot be achieved by spatial or temporal boundaries, and are only possible with spatiotemporal boundaries. These findings provide unique ways to engineer the dynamics of electromagnetic wavepackets in space-time. Such wavepackets with engineered spacetime trajectories may find potential applications in the spatiotemporal control of material properties or particles, or for use as a way to emulate relativistic physics in the laboratory.
title Spatiotemporal steering of non-diffracting wavepackets
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.10577