Optical precursors in transparent media

Bruno Macke (1) , Bernard Ségard (1)

1 PhLAM - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules - UMR 8523

We theoretically study the linear propagation of a stepwise pulse through a dilute dispersive medium when the frequency of the optical carrier coincides with the center of a natural or electromagnetically induced transparency window of the medium (slow-light systems). We obtain explicit analytical expressions of the entirety of the step response and show that, for parameters representative of real experiments, Sommerfeld-Brillouin precursors, main field and second precursors ("postcursors") can be distinctly observed, all with amplitudes comparable to that of the incident step. This behavior strongly contrasts with that of the systems generally considered.

Mots clés: Optical precursors; Wave Propagation

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Bruno Macke, Bernard Ségard. Optical precursors in transparent media. 2009. ⟨hal-00356577v1⟩