Time-dependent Bragg diffraction and short-pulse reflection by one-dimensional photonic crystals

TL;DR

This paper investigates how one-dimensional photonic crystals affect short-pulse reflection through time-dependent Bragg diffraction, revealing a time-delay effect influenced by the extinction length, with implications for short-pulse optics.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of the time-dependent response of photonic crystals to short pulses using coupled-wave theory, highlighting the transient time and delay effects.

Findings

Photonic crystals exhibit a time-delay effect in Bragg diffraction.

The transient response is conditioned by the extinction length.

Numerical simulations demonstrate the impact on x-ray pulse reflection.

Abstract

The time-dependence of the Bragg diffraction by one-dimensional photonic crystals and its influence on the short pulse reflection are studied in the framework of the coupled- wave theory. The indicial response of the photonic crystal is calculated and it appears that it presents a time-delay effect with a transient time conditioned by the extinction length. A numerical simulation is presented for a Bragg mirror in the x-ray domain and a pulse envelope modelled by a sine-squared shape. The potential consequences of the time-delay effect in time-dependent optics of short-pulses are emphasized.