Rights statement: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication/published in Journal of Optics. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at doi:10.1088/2040-8986/aaa0fc
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Uni-directional optical pulses, temporal propagation, and spatial and temporal dispersion
AU - Kinsler, Paul
N1 - This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication/published in Journal of Optics. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at doi:10.1088/2040-8986/aaa0fc
PY - 2018/1/12
Y1 - 2018/1/12
N2 - 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 comparison of the exact bi-directional theory with its corresponding approximate uni-directional theory. Notably, temporal propagation handles dispersion in a different way, and this difference serves to highlight existing approximations inherent in spatially propagated treatments of dispersion. Accordingly, I emphasise the need for future work in clarifying the limitations of the dispersion conversion required by these types of approaches; since the only alternative in the few cycle limit may be to resort to the much more computationally intensive full Maxwell equationsolvers.
AB - 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 comparison of the exact bi-directional theory with its corresponding approximate uni-directional theory. Notably, temporal propagation handles dispersion in a different way, and this difference serves to highlight existing approximations inherent in spatially propagated treatments of dispersion. Accordingly, I emphasise the need for future work in clarifying the limitations of the dispersion conversion required by these types of approaches; since the only alternative in the few cycle limit may be to resort to the much more computationally intensive full Maxwell equationsolvers.
KW - optics
KW - Pulse propagation
KW - dispersion
KW - unidirectional
U2 - 10.1088/2040-8986/aaa0fc
DO - 10.1088/2040-8986/aaa0fc
M3 - Journal article
VL - 20
JO - Journal of Optics
JF - Journal of Optics
SN - 2040-8978
IS - 2
M1 - 025502
ER -