title: What is the Temporal Analog of Reflection and Refraction of Optical Beams?
abstract: It is shown numerically and analytically that when an optical pulse approaches a moving temporal boundary across which the refractive index changes, it undergoes a temporal equivalent of reflection and refraction of optical beams at a spatial boundary. The main difference is that the role of angles is played by changes in the frequency. The frequency dependence of the dispersion of the material in which the pulse is propagating plays a fundamental role in determining the frequency shifts experienced by the reflected and refracted pulses. Our analytic expressions for these frequency shifts allow us to find the condition under which an analog of total internal reflection may occur at the temporal boundary.
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, 275 Hutchison Road, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Plansinis
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, 250 East River Road, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Donaldson
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, 275 Hutchison Road, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.|Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, 250 East River Road, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Agrawal