Space-Time Lensing by Accelerated Interfaces in Dispersive Media
arXiv:2607.13780
The paper proposes a method to focus or collimate optical pulses using synthetic accelerated interfaces in dispersive media, designing the interface trajectory to control space‑time lensing and suppress dispersion.
Abstract
We present space-time lensing by synthetic accelerated interfaces in dispersive media. Frequency-dependent group velocities map spectral components of a pulse onto distinct trajectories in the longitudinal space-time plane, while an accelerated interface reshapes their frequencies through time-dependent Doppler shifts. We develop an inverse-design procedure for the interface trajectory that focuses a quasi-monochromatic wave packet at a prescribed space-time event for an arbitrary dispersion relation, then extend the construction to polychromatic pulses. In its time-reversed form, the operation collimates a broadband pulse into a narrow-band wave. Moreover, cascading the forward and reverse operations enables a broadband pulse to propagate through an otherwise dispersive channel in a spectrally compressed state before being refocused. Full-wave simulations validate the focusing construction and demonstrate dispersion suppression.
7 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letters