Which group velocity of light in a dispersive medium?

The interaction between a light pulse, traveling in air, and a generic linear, non-absorbing and dispersive structure is analyzed. It is shown that energy conservation imposes a constraint between the group velocities of the transmitted and reflected light pulses. It follows that the two fields prop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2008-10
Main Authors: Omar El Gawhary, Severini, Sergio, Christillin, Paolo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dispersion
Energy conservation
Group velocity
Optical properties
Online Access:Get full text
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Description
Summary:The interaction between a light pulse, traveling in air, and a generic linear, non-absorbing and dispersive structure is analyzed. It is shown that energy conservation imposes a constraint between the group velocities of the transmitted and reflected light pulses. It follows that the two fields propagate with group velocities depending on the dispersive properties of the environment (air) and on the transmission properties of the optical structure, and are one faster and the other slower than the incident field. In other words, the group velocity of a light pulse in a dispersive medium is reminiscent of previous interactions. One example is discussed in detail.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.0810.0282