Approximate Analytic Solution for the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Wave Packets undergoing Arbitrary Dispersion

An electromagnetic wave-packet propagating in a linear, homogeneous, and isotropic medium changes shape while its envelope travels with different velocities at different points in spacetime. In general, a wave-packet can be described as a superposition of plane-waves having different frequencies {\omega} and different propagation vectors k. While the angular spread of the k-vectors gives rise to diffractive effects, it is the frequency-dependence of the refractive index of th...

In this paper we discuss some aspects of the theory of wave packets. We consider a popular non-covariant Gaussian model used in various applications and show that it predicts too slow a longitudinal dispersion rate for relativistic particles. We revise this approach by considering a covariant model of Gaussian wave packets, and examine our results by inspecting a wave packet of arbitrary form. A general formula for the time dependence of the dispersion of a wave packet of arb...

I derive a temporally propagated uni-directional optical pulse equation valid in the few cycle limit. Temporal propagation is advantageous because it naturally preserves causality, unlike the competing spatially propagated models. The exact coupled bi-directional equations that this approach generates can be efficiently approximated down to a uni-directional form in cases where an optical pulse changes little over one optical cycle. They also permit a direct term-to-term comp...

A time-domain approach is proposed for the propagation of ultrashort electro- magnetic wave packets beyond the paraxial and the slowly-varying-envelope approximations. An analytical method based on perturbation theory is used to solve the wave equation in free space without resorting to Fourier trans- forms. An exact solution is obtained in terms of successive temporal and spatial derivatives of a monochromatic paraxial beam. The special case of a radially polarized transvers...

In this paper we set forth new exact analytical Superluminal localized solutions to the wave equation for arbitrary frequencies and adjustable bandwidth. The formulation presented here is rather simple, and its results can be expressed in terms of the ordinary, so-called "X-shaped waves". Moeover, by the present formalism we obtain the first analytical localized Superluminal approximate solutions which represent beams propagating in dispersive media. Our solutions may find ap...

In this paper, we describe analytically the propagation of Airy-type pulses truncated by a finite-time aperture when second and third order dispersion effects are considered. The mathematical method presented here, based on the superposition of exponentially truncated Airy pulses, is very effective, allowing us to avoid the use of time-consuming numerical simulations. We analyze the behavior of the time truncated Ideal-Airy pulse and also the interesting case of a time trunca...

We present an extension of the canonical coupled mode theory of electromagnetic waves to the case of pulses and spatio-temporal perturbations in complex media. Unlike previous attempts to derive such a model, our approach involves no approximation, and does not impose any restriction on the spatio-temporal profile. Moreover, the effect of modal dispersion on mode evolution and on the coupling to other modes is fully taken into account. Thus, our approach can yield any require...

In this article we develop an effective theory of pulse propagation in a nonlinear and disordered medium. The theory is formulated in terms of a nonlinear diffusion equation. Despite its apparent simplicity this equation describes novel phenomena which we refer to as "locked explosion" and "diffusive" collapse. In this sense the equation can serve as a paradigmatic model, that can be applied to such distinct physical systems as laser beams propagating in disordered photonic c...

The different forms of propagation of relativistic electron plasma wavepackets in terms of Airy functions are studied. It is shown that exact solutions can be constructed showing accelerated propagations along coordinates transverse to the thermal speed cone coordinate. Similarly, Airy propagation is a solution for relativistic electron plasma waves in the paraxial approximation. This regime is considered in time-domain, when paraxial approximation is considered for frequency...

The applied method of the amplitude envelopes give us the possibility to describe a new class of amplitude equations governing the propagation of optical pulses in media with dispersion, dispersionless media and vacuum. We normalized these amplitude equations and obtained five dimensionless parameters that determine different linear and nonlinear regimes of the optical pulses evolution. Surprisingly, in linear regime the normalized amplitude equations for media with dispersio...