Reflection at a phase-conjugating mirror: a signature of superluminal behaviour.

M. Blaauboer, A.E. Kozhekin, A.G. Kofman +3 more

M. Blaauboer, Daan Lenstra, A. Lodder

M. Blaauboer, Alexander E. Kozhekin, Abraham G. Kofman +3 more

We theoretically analyze wave packet transmission through a phase-conjugating mirror and show that the transmission of a suitably chosen input pulse is superluminal, i.e. the peak of the pulse emerges from the mirror before the time it takes to travel the same distance in vacuum. This pulse reshaping effect can be attributed directly to the dispersion relation in the nonlinear medium constituting the mirror. Thus, for the first time a connection is laid between optical phase conjugation and superluminal behavior. In view of its additional amplifying ability, a phase-conjugating mirror is a most promising candidate for an experimental observation of tachyonic signatures.

Brian Vohnsen, Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi

P. D. Drummond, Ari T. Friberg

An ordinary mirror placed in front of a phase-conjugate mirror forms a type of Fabry–Perot interferometer with unusual reflection properties. The specularly reflected and phase-conjugate reflected intensities are analyzed for arbitrary reflection coefficients, given an incident monochromatic linearly polarized plane wave. It is shown that if the ordinary mirror is lossless and the phase-conjugate reflectivity is unity, the specularly reflected wave disappears completely. This leaves only the phase-conjugate reflected wave that propagates in the direction opposite to that of the incident wave. The above result is independent of the reflectivity of the ordinary mirror and the separation between the two interferometer mirrors. Some of the main effects due to absorption in the ordinary mirror are briefly discussed.

M. Blaauboer, Abraham G. Kofman, Alexander E. Kozhekin +3 more

We theoretically investigate the response of optical phase conjugators to incident probe pulses. In the stable (subthreshold) operating regime of an optical phase conjugator it is possible to transmit probe pulses with a superluminally advanced peak, whereas conjugate reflection is always subluminal. In the unstable (above-threshold) regime, superluminal response occurs both in reflection and in transmission, at times preceding the onset of exponential growth due to the instability.