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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Time reflection and refraction in synthetic frequency dimension

Olivia Y. Long1, Kai Wang2, Avik Dutt3, and Shanhui Fan1,2,*

  • 1Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
  • 2Department of Electrical Engineering, Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
  • 3Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

  • *shanhui@stanford.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 5, L012046 – Published 24 March, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L012046

Abstract

The duality of space and time in Maxwell's equations has prompted interest in time boundaries and the accompanying temporal analog of spatial reflection and refraction. However, achieving observable time-boundary effects at optical frequencies in real materials is challenging. In this Letter, we demonstrate that time reflection and refraction can be observed in a two-band model centered around a nonzero reference energy. Our model can be physically implemented in the synthetic frequency dimension as a system of two coupled dynamically modulated ring resonators. We find that modulation at microwave frequencies is sufficient to observe time-boundary effects for optical waves in synthetic frequency dimension. Our Letter shows that implementing multiband models in synthetic dimensions opens a new avenue for further exploration of time boundaries.

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Phys. Rev. Research 5, L012046– Published 24 March, 2023
  • Received 31 August 2022
  • Accepted 1 March 2023
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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