Related papers: Comments on "Slowing of Bessel light beam group ve…
Recently, a series of theoretical and experimental papers on free-space propagation of pulsed Laguerre-Gaussian and Bessel beams was published, which reached contradictory and controversial results about group velocities of such pulses.…
Scalar Bessel beams are derived both via the wave equation and via diffraction theory. While such beams have a group velocity that exceeds the speed of light, this is a manifestation of the "scissors paradox" of special relativty. The…
The interaction between a light pulse, traveling in air, and a generic linear, non-absorbing and dispersive structure is analyzed. It is shown that energy conservation imposes a constraint between the group velocities of the transmitted and…
We present a brief classical discussion of a process to reduce the group velocity of an electromagnetic pulse by many orders of magnitude.
A comparative analysis of two approaches to description of the light modulation pulse delay in a saturable absorber is presented. According to the simplest model, the delay of the optical pulse is a result of distortion of its shape due to…
That the speed of light in free space is constant is a cornerstone of modern physics. However, light beams have finite transverse size, which leads to a modification of their wavevectors resulting in a change to their phase and group…
The question is raised about whether the pulse delay in a saturable absorber has anything to do with the "slow light" and group velocity reduction. We also wonder why the 40-years-old trivial interpretation of the effect remains so far…
We present experimental evidence that light storage, i.e. the controlled release of a light pulse by an atomic sample dependent on the past presence of a writing pulse, is not restricted to small group velocity media but can also occur in a…
The group velocity for pulses in an optical medium can be negative at frequencies between those of a pair of laser-pumped spectral lines. The gain medium then can amplify the leading edge of a pulse resulting in a time advance of the pulse…
In this paper we present thoughtful comments on the paper `Bessel beams and signal propagation' showing that the main claims of that paper are wrong. Moreover, we take the opportunity to show the non trivial and indeed surprising result…
Slow light in moving media reaches a paradoxical regime when the flow speed of the medium approaches the group velocity of light. Pulses can penetrate a region where a counter-propagating flow exceeds the group velocity. When the…
The mechanisms leading to a seemingly superluminal propagation of light in dispersive media are examined. The anomalous dispersion near an absorption line, involved in the first experiments displaying negative group velocity propagation, is…
Recent manifestations of apparently faster-than-light effects confirmed our predictions that the group velocity in transparent optical media can exceed c. Special relativity is not violated by these phenomena. Moreover, in the electronic…
Bessel beams carry orbital angular momentum (OAM). Opening up of the Hilbert space of OAM for information coding makes Bessel beams potential candidates for utility in data transfer and optical communication. A laser bullet is the…
We report ultraslow group velocities of light in a solid. Light speeds as slow as 45 m/s were observed, corresponding to a group delay of 66 ms in a 3-mm thick crystal. Reduction of the group velocity is accomplished by using a sharp…
It says in the report$^1$ by Wang et al. that a negative group velocity $u=-c/310$ is obtained and that a pulse advancement shift 62-ns is measured. The authors claim that the negative group velocity is associated with superluminal light…
Superluminal behavior has been extensively studied in recent years, especially with regard to the topic of superluminality in the propagation of a signal. Particular interest has been devoted to Bessel-X waves propagation, since some…
We present a programme of spectroscopic observations of galaxies in a sample of optically-selected clusters taken from the catalogue of Couch et al (1991). Previous ROSAT observations of these clusters have shown them to have lower X-ray…
We show that the propagation of light in a Doppler broadened medium can be slowed down considerably eventhough such medium exhibits very flat dispersion. The slowing down is achieved by the application of a saturating counter propagating…
Einstein's theory of relativity establishes the speed of light in vacuum, c, as a fundamental constant. However, the speed of light pulses can be altered significantly in dispersive materials. While significant control can be exerted over…