Optical precursors in transparent media

Optical precursors in transparent media

Magneto-optical Effects in Transparent Media under Inhomogeneous Magnetization

The analysis of the Magneto-Optical (M. 0.) effects when the magnetization is inhomogeneous is separated in two cases : first, when no diffraction occurs inside the medium, the geometrical optics approximation is used to derive the phase of the optical fields and the ray paths. Second, with no negligible diffraction inside themedium, extensions of the previous theory are presented and applied t...

Fractional Precursors in Random Media

When a broadband pulse penetrates into a dissipative and dispersive medium, phase dispersion and frequency-dependent attenuation alter the pulse in a way that results in the appearance of a precursor field with an algebraic decay. We derive here the existence of precursors in nondispersive, non-dissipative, but randomly heterogeneous and multiscale media. The shape of the precursor and its frac...

Optical breakdown in transparent media with adjustable axial length and location.

We demonstrate a highly elongated (aspect ratio over 500:1) optical breakdown in water produced by a single pulse of a picosecond laser focused with a combination of an axicon and a lens. Locations of the proximal and distal ends of the breakdown region can be adjusted by modifying radial intensity distribution of the incident beam with an amplitude mask. Using Fresnel diffraction theory we der...

Optical shock and blow-up of ultrashort pulses in transparent media

P. Whalen,1 J. V. Moloney,2,3,4 A. C. Newell,3 K. Newell,3 and M. Kolesik2,4,5 1Program in Applied Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0089, USA 2Arizona Center for Mathematical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0089, USA 3Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0089, USA 4College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ ...