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Main Authors: Kim, Seulong, Kim, Kihong
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14241
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author Kim, Seulong
Kim, Kihong
author_facet Kim, Seulong
Kim, Kihong
contents Temporal modulation of material parameters offers unprecedented control over wave dynamics, enabling phenomena beyond the capabilities of static systems. Here we introduce and analyze a robust mechanism for time rewinding, whereby a temporally evolved wave is fully restored to its original state through a carefully engineered sequence of temporal modulations. In electromagnetic systems, time rewinding emerges from impedance-matched or anti-matched hierarchical bilayer structures with matched modulation durations, exploiting total transmission or reflection and reversed phase accumulation. In Dirac systems, it arises via complete interband transition driven by time-dependent vector potentials. Unlike time-reversal holography or quantum time mirrors, which produce wave echoes but only partial waveform recovery, our approach achieves deterministic and complete reconstruction of the entire wave state, including both amplitude and phase. Analytical conditions for robust amplitude and phase restoration are derived and validated through simulations of discrete and continuous modulations, demonstrating resilience to modulation complexity and temporal asymmetry. These findings establish a versatile platform for secure information retrieval, temporal cloaking, programmable metamaterials, and wave-based logic devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_14241
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Deterministic time rewinding of waves in time-varying media
Kim, Seulong
Kim, Kihong
Optics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Temporal modulation of material parameters offers unprecedented control over wave dynamics, enabling phenomena beyond the capabilities of static systems. Here we introduce and analyze a robust mechanism for time rewinding, whereby a temporally evolved wave is fully restored to its original state through a carefully engineered sequence of temporal modulations. In electromagnetic systems, time rewinding emerges from impedance-matched or anti-matched hierarchical bilayer structures with matched modulation durations, exploiting total transmission or reflection and reversed phase accumulation. In Dirac systems, it arises via complete interband transition driven by time-dependent vector potentials. Unlike time-reversal holography or quantum time mirrors, which produce wave echoes but only partial waveform recovery, our approach achieves deterministic and complete reconstruction of the entire wave state, including both amplitude and phase. Analytical conditions for robust amplitude and phase restoration are derived and validated through simulations of discrete and continuous modulations, demonstrating resilience to modulation complexity and temporal asymmetry. These findings establish a versatile platform for secure information retrieval, temporal cloaking, programmable metamaterials, and wave-based logic devices.
title Deterministic time rewinding of waves in time-varying media
topic Optics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14241