Optics and Spectroscopy
Generation of Extremely Short Pulses upon Excitation of a Resonant Medium by a Superluminal Light Spot
Rostislav M. Arkhipov, D. O. Zhiguleva, A. V. Pakhomov, Mikhail V. Arkhipov, Ihar Babushkin, Nikolay N. Rosanov
Abstract
The possibility of generation of quasi-unipolar extremely short pulses (with a duration of several periods of field oscillations) is theoretically analyzed for the excitation of a circular, nonlinear, and resonant medium with a light spot. The light spot rotates along a circle with a velocity that exceeds the speed of light in vacuum, while particles of the medium are distributed uniformly along the circle. It is shown that, by introducing a delay in the form of a phase plate into the system, one can control the shape, the duration, and the amplitude of generated pulses.