Pulse compression and broadening by reflection from a moving front of a photonic crystal

Journal
Optics express  
Volume
22
Issue
11
Start Page
13280
End Page
13287
Citation
Optics Express 22 (11): 13280-13287 (2014)
Publisher DOI
10.1364/OE.22.013280
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84901845332
Publisher
Optical Society of America
Previously, the effect of pulse bandwidth compression or broadening was observed in reflection from a moving front together with the Doppler shift. In this letter, an approach is presented, which alters pulse bandwidth without change in the central frequency. It occurs when light is reflected from a moving front of an otherwise stationary photonic crystal. This means that the photonic crystal lattice as such is stationary and only its boundary to the environment is moving, thus extruding (or shortening) the photonic crystal medium. The compression (broadening) factor depends on the front velocity and is the same as for the conventional Doppler shift. Complete reflection and transformation of the pulse can be achieved even with weak refractive index contrast, what makes the approach experimentally viable. © 2014 Optical Society of America.
DDC Class
530: Physik
Funding Organisations
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)  
More Funding Information
This publication was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under Grant and the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) in the funding program “Open Access Publishing”.