Controlled compression, amplification and frequency up-conversion of optical pulses by media with time-dependent refractive index.

ABSTRACT: Control over the time dependence of the refractive index of a material allows one to modify and manipulate the properties of light propagating through it. While metamaterials provide a promising avenue in this context, another route has been extensively explored by the ultrafast community - the so-called molecular modulators. Indeed, impulsively-aligned diatomic molecules provide a unique medium, where periodic rotational revivals induced by a pump pulse persist for tens of picoseconds, offering an excellent opportunity for the controlled modification of the refractive index and, therefore, of femtosecond laser pulses propagating through these media. Here we present an analytical theory which describes this process and stumble across a novel mechanism revealing exponential transformations

SUBMITTER: Lohr AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11502027 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature