Nonlinear optics and, in general, the interaction of light with matter is usually studied in the context of a stationary medium that does not change in time or changes slowly on the time scale of the optical frequency cycle. However, there are a number of interesting effects that arise when the medium is allowed to change at very rapid rates. We first discuss the recent experimental discovery of a new kind of resonant radiation emission from laser pulse shock fronts and consider its main features in terms of a possible route to investigate light scattering from a relativistically moving scatterer. As a second example we consider the case of a periodically changing medium: such a situation bears a close resemblance to the dynamical Casimir effect.

Date Published: 14 March 2013
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 8623, Ultrafast Phenomena and Nanophotonics XVII, 862319 (14 March 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2006536

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8623:
Ultrafast Phenomena and Nanophotonics XVII
Markus Betz; Abdulhakem Y. Elezzabi; Jin-Joo Song; Kong-Thon Tsen, Editor(s)