Space–Time Duality in Optics: Its Origin and Applications

The concept of space–time duality in optics was originally based on the mathematical connection between the diffraction of beams in space and the dispersion of pulses in time. This concept has been extended in recent years from the temporal analog of reflection for optical pulses to photonic time cr...

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Main Author: Govind P. Agrawal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Photonics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/12/6/611
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author Govind P. Agrawal
author_facet Govind P. Agrawal
author_sort Govind P. Agrawal
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description The concept of space–time duality in optics was originally based on the mathematical connection between the diffraction of beams in space and the dispersion of pulses in time. This concept has been extended in recent years from the temporal analog of reflection for optical pulses to photonic time crystals in a medium where refractive index varies with time in a periodic fashion. In this review, I discuss how the concept of space–time duality and the use of nonlinear optics has led to many advances in recent years. Starting from the historical origin of space–time duality, time lenses and their applications are reviewed first. Later sections cover phenomena such as soliton-induced temporal reflection, time-domain waveguiding, and the formation of spatiotemporal Bragg gratings.
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spelling doaj-art-ad62e8bfc276475eb2c2f9bf83e2dbd42025-08-20T03:27:22ZengMDPI AGPhotonics2304-67322025-06-0112661110.3390/photonics12060611Space–Time Duality in Optics: Its Origin and ApplicationsGovind P. Agrawal0The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USAThe concept of space–time duality in optics was originally based on the mathematical connection between the diffraction of beams in space and the dispersion of pulses in time. This concept has been extended in recent years from the temporal analog of reflection for optical pulses to photonic time crystals in a medium where refractive index varies with time in a periodic fashion. In this review, I discuss how the concept of space–time duality and the use of nonlinear optics has led to many advances in recent years. Starting from the historical origin of space–time duality, time lenses and their applications are reviewed first. Later sections cover phenomena such as soliton-induced temporal reflection, time-domain waveguiding, and the formation of spatiotemporal Bragg gratings.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/12/6/611space–time dualitysolitonstemporal reflectionnonlinear optics
spellingShingle Govind P. Agrawal
Space–Time Duality in Optics: Its Origin and Applications
Photonics
space–time duality
solitons
temporal reflection
nonlinear optics
title Space–Time Duality in Optics: Its Origin and Applications
title_full Space–Time Duality in Optics: Its Origin and Applications
title_fullStr Space–Time Duality in Optics: Its Origin and Applications
title_full_unstemmed Space–Time Duality in Optics: Its Origin and Applications
title_short Space–Time Duality in Optics: Its Origin and Applications
title_sort space time duality in optics its origin and applications
topic space–time duality
solitons
temporal reflection
nonlinear optics
url https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/12/6/611
work_keys_str_mv AT govindpagrawal spacetimedualityinopticsitsoriginandapplications