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Technical Physics

On the reality of supraluminal group velocity and negative delay time for a wave packet in a dispersion medium

Nikolai S. Bukhman

Published Jan 1, 2002• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It is shown that, in the case of the supraluminal group velocity of a wave packet in a dispersion medium, a wave packet with a smooth (analytical) envelope does propagate with a supraluminal velocity. In the case of a negative group velocity, the signal maximum does arrive at the detector earlier than at the transmitter. These facts are consistent with both the finiteness of the velocity of light in free space for information transfer (in the case of supraluminal propagation velocity) and the principle of causality (in the case of negative delay time). Basically, the effect of negative delay time may be employed for predicting an observable effect.

DOI
10.1134/1.1435903

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It is shown that, in the case of the supraluminal group velocity of a wave packet in a dispersion medium, a wave packet with a smooth (analytical) envelope does propagate with a supraluminal velocity. In the case of a negative group velocity, the signal maximum does arrive at the detector earlier than at the transmitter. These facts are consistent with both the finiteness of the velocity of light in free space for information transfer (in the case of supraluminal propagation velocity) and the principle of causality (in the case of negative delay time). Basically, the effect of negative delay time may be employed for predicting an observable effect.
Abstract This paper considers the question of superluminal (or negative) group velocities of signals in dispersive media, as well as negative group delay times of signals passing through linear filters. It is shown that information can be transmitted only with the help of jumps in the time dependence of a function or its derivatives and, therefore, the information propagation velocity in any (including dispersive, absorbing, or amplifying) medium exactly coincides with the speed of light in vacuum. As for the group velocity of a wave packet, it is only the propagation velocity of its infinitely differentiable envelope, by means of which the transmission of information, strictly speaking, is impossible. Therefore, in regions with anomalous dispersion, the group velocity can be superluminal or negative without violating the “light limitation” of the theory of relativity or the principle of causality. Examples of situations in which superluminal or negative group velocity occurs are given.
It is shown that the delay time of a weak signal propagating in an amplifying medium on the wings of the spectral amplification line may be shorter than the time of propagation of the signal with the velocity of light in vacuum. It is found that in this case, the time dependence of the signal is exactly 'reconstructed' at the point of detection, and the detection of the signal continues even if it is abruptly terminated at the point of transmission. It is also shown that using the complex time of group delay of the signal, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the results in the first order of dispersion theory within this approximation.
In a dispersive medium, different monochromatic modes of light have different phase velocities. Under special circumstances, a superposition of these modes results in an interesting effect wherein the group velocity (the velocity at which the peak of the wavepacket propagates) could be greater than c or even negative although the phase velocities of the modes are all less than c . Can this superluminal group velocity be used for information transfer? We show here that the `superluminal' effect is due to a coherent optical wave superposition effect. Whatever the velocity of the `peak', the whole pulse cannot travel with a speed greater than the fastest phase velocity of its component modes. Thus the maximum speed for information transfer, which involves the sending of a finite pulse, cannot be greater than the maximum phase velocity in the medium.
Energy exchange between an electromagnetic pulse and dispersive media may result in complicated, yet interesting, phenomena in which the group velocity becomes abnormal (i.e., superluminal or negative). For such cases, signal velocity (velocity of detectable information) remains debatable. In this chapter, we present a systematic study that can be applied to pulse propagation in any dispersive medium in order to quantify the detectable information content and calculate its speed, while accounting for pulse reshaping effects and noise generated in the medium and the detector. Accordingly, we present an operational context within which the constraints of superluminal signaling and its potential applications are shown. We provide scenarios in which the signal velocity is evaluated in microwave circuits with negative group delays and extend the method to include optical pulses in inverted media as well. Such analysis explores the fundamental limitations and capabilities of a broad range of superluminal signaling applications.