Temporal chirp, temporal lensing and temporal routing via space-time interfaces

Abstract

A time interface (a rapid change of the constitutive parameters of a material in time), applied within an unbounded medium where a wave travels, can enable frequency conversion, and is considered the temporal analogue of a spatial interface between two materials. Here, we study light-matter interactions in four dimensions, 4D (space, x,y,z, and time, t), by exploring the implications of applying time interfaces not to the entire space where a wave travels, but to certain regions of space in order to create spatial interfaces in time. Different configurations such as induced perpendicular, parallel, and oblique spatial interfaces via a temporal interface are discussed. It is shown how such four-dimensional combinations of temporal and spatial interfaces can enable interesting features such as the 4D generalized Snell law and the temporal chirp, temporal lensing, and temporal routing of electromagnetic waves. Such exotic possibilities may provide new ways to manipulate light-matter interactions via a combination of temporal and spatial interfaces.