Reflection and Refraction of an Airy Pulse at a Moving Temporal Boundary

Abstract

AbstractReflection and refraction of Airy pulses at a moving step refractive‐index boundary are investigated. A comb‐like reflected spectrum and an Airy‐like transmitted spectrum are formed as an Airy pulse crosses a temporal boundary without initial group velocity mismatch or initial central frequency shift. The reflected and refracted pulses are significantly influenced by the location of temporal boundary and time‐dependent refractive index change. The energy of each lobe of the comb‐like reflected spectra can be controlled by changing the value of decay factor of the Airy pulse. In the case of an Airy pulse with an initial launch frequency shift, the reflected and refracted frequency shifts depend on the dispersion relation of the medium. The results can be used in potential applications involving optical manipulation.