title: Circularly polarized light in the single-cycle limit: The nature of highly polychromatic radiation of defined polarization.
abstract: We have developed a general analytic description of polarized light pulses and explored the properties of circularly polarized single-cycle pulses. The temporal evolution of the electric-field vector of such spectrally broad pulses, which may be described in terms of a Hilbert transform relationship, differs significantly from the well-known behavior of quasi-monochromatic radiation. Single-cycle circularly polarized pulses are produced and characterized experimentally in the terahertz spectral region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA. jie.shan@case.edu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.forename: Jerry I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Dadap
authors.forename: Tony F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Heinz
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D008027:Light; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation