English

Fundamental asymmetries between spatial and temporal boundaries in electromagnetics

Optics 2023-04-05 v2 Classical Physics

Abstract

Time-varying materials bring an extra degree of design freedom compared to their conventional time-invariant counterparts. However, few discussions have focused on the underlying physical difference between spatial and temporal boundaries. In this letter, we thoroughly investigate those differences from the perspective of conservation laws. By doing so, the building blocks of optics and electromagnetics such as the reflection law, Snell's law, and Fresnel's equations can be analogously derived in a temporal context, but with completely different interpretations. Furthermore, we study the unique features of temporal boundaries, such as their nonconformance to energy conservation and causality.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2207.04286,
  title  = {Fundamental asymmetries between spatial and temporal boundaries in electromagnetics},
  author = {Wending Mai and Jingwei Xu and Douglas H. Werner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.04286},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

This article has been withdrawn due to an unresolvable internal author dispute

R2 v1 2026-06-25T00:46:59.162Z