Scattering at Space-Time Interfaces between Dispersive Media

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: De Kinder, Klaas, Caloz, Christophe
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author De Kinder, Klaas
Caloz, Christophe
author_facet De Kinder, Klaas
Caloz, Christophe
contents Dynamic modulation of material properties in space and time enables powerful control over wave propagation, yet existing theories largely rely on idealized, nondispersive models. In realistic media, frequency dispersion can strongly reshape wave dynamics, especially near resonances in highly dispersive platforms such as epsilon-near-zero materials. Here, we develop a general frequency transition theory for electromagnetic scattering at moving interfaces between dispersive media. From phase continuity, we derive nonlinear frequency transition relations and show that dispersion fundamentally reshapes the space-time scattering landscape, enabling additional propagating solutions with no counterpart in nondispersive systems. Applied to Drude, Lorentz and double-Drude media, the theory reveals how resonant dispersion, material loss and negative-index branches reorganize the scattering channels. For the two-wave scattering class, we further introduce a mixed-domain formulation that combines time-domain interface kinematics with frequency-domain constitutive relations, yielding closed-form scattering coefficients. These results establish a unified framework for dispersive space-time scattering and open opportunities for dispersion-based transition engineering in realistic materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_00893
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Scattering at Space-Time Interfaces between Dispersive Media
De Kinder, Klaas
Caloz, Christophe
Optics
Dynamic modulation of material properties in space and time enables powerful control over wave propagation, yet existing theories largely rely on idealized, nondispersive models. In realistic media, frequency dispersion can strongly reshape wave dynamics, especially near resonances in highly dispersive platforms such as epsilon-near-zero materials. Here, we develop a general frequency transition theory for electromagnetic scattering at moving interfaces between dispersive media. From phase continuity, we derive nonlinear frequency transition relations and show that dispersion fundamentally reshapes the space-time scattering landscape, enabling additional propagating solutions with no counterpart in nondispersive systems. Applied to Drude, Lorentz and double-Drude media, the theory reveals how resonant dispersion, material loss and negative-index branches reorganize the scattering channels. For the two-wave scattering class, we further introduce a mixed-domain formulation that combines time-domain interface kinematics with frequency-domain constitutive relations, yielding closed-form scattering coefficients. These results establish a unified framework for dispersive space-time scattering and open opportunities for dispersion-based transition engineering in realistic materials.
title Scattering at Space-Time Interfaces between Dispersive Media
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00893