Universal structure of propagation-invariant optical pulses
Open accessAbstract
Space–time structuring of light—where spatial and temporal degrees of freedom are deliberately coupled and controlled—is an emerging area of optics that enables novel configurations of electromagnetic fields. Of particular importance for applications are optical pulses whose peak intensity travels at an arbitrary, tunable velocity while maintaining its spatiotemporal profile. Space–time wave packets (STWPs) and the ideal flying focus (FF) are two prominent realizations of these pulses. Here, we show that these realizations share an identical spatiotemporal field structure and that this structure represents a universal solution for constant-velocity, propagation-invariant pulses.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Cites
Generation of spatiotemporal optical vortices with controllable transverse orbital angular momentum
Chong, A., Wan, C., Chen, J., & Zhan, Q. (2020) · Nature Photonics · doi:10.1038/s41566-020-0587-z · Cited by 532 · see citing works
Diffraction-free space–time light sheets
Kondakci, H. E., & Abouraddy, A. F. (2017) · Nature Photonics · doi:10.1038/s41566-017-0028-9 · Cited by 317 · see citing works
Self-citationFree-space propagation of spatiotemporal optical vortices
Hancock, S. W., Zahedpour, S., Goffin, A., & Milchberg, H. M. (2019) · Optica · doi:10.1364/optica.6.001547 · Cited by 310 · see citing works
Spatiotemporal Optical Vortices
Jhajj, N., Larkin, I., Rosenthal, E. W., Zahedpour, S., Wahlstrand, J. K., & Milchberg, H. M. (2016) · Physical Review X · doi:10.1103/physrevx.6.031037 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Optical space-time wave packets having arbitrary group velocities in free space
Kondakci, H. E., & Abouraddy, A. F. (2019) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08735-8 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Self-citationSpatiotemporal control of laser intensity
Froula, D. H., Turnbull, D., Davies, A. S., et al. (2018) · Nature Photonics · doi:10.1038/s41566-018-0121-8 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Wan, C., Cao, Q., Chen, J., et al. (2022) · Nature Photonics · doi:10.1038/s41566-022-01013-y · Cited by 210 · see citing works
Roadmap on spatiotemporal light fields
Shen, Y., Zhan, Q., Wright, L. G., Christodoulides, D. N., Wise, F. W., Willner, A. E., Zou, K., Zhao, Z., Porras, M. A., Chong, A., et al. (2023) · Journal of Optics · doi:10.1088/2040-8986/ace4dc · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Self-citationHeyman, E., & Felsen, L. B. (2001) · Journal of the Optical Society of America A · doi:10.1364/josaa.18.001588 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Observation of toroidal pulses of light
Zdagkas, A., McDonnell, C., Deng, J., Shen, Y., Li, G., Ellenbogen, T., Papasimakis, N., & Zheludev, N. I. (2022) · Nature Photonics · doi:10.1038/s41566-022-01028-5 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Spatiotemporal Vortex Pulses: Angular Momenta and Spin-Orbit Interaction
Bliokh, K. Y. (2021) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.126.243601 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Yessenov, М., Hall, L. A., Schepler, K. L., & Abouraddy, A. F. (2022) · Advances in Optics and Photonics · doi:10.1364/aop.450016 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Self-citationDephasingless Laser Wakefield Acceleration
Palastro, J. P., Shaw, J., Franke, P., et al. (2020) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.124.134802 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Self-citationElectromagnetic Gaussian beams beyond the paraxial approximation
Sheppard, C. J. R., & Saghafi, S. (1999) · Journal of the Optical Society of America A · doi:10.1364/josaa.16.001381 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Spatio-temporal light springs: extended encoding of orbital angular momentum in ultrashort pulses
Pariente, G., & Quéré, F. (2015) · Optics Letters · doi:10.1364/ol.40.002037 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Phase-locked laser-wakefield electron acceleration
Caizergues, C., Smartsev, S., Malka, V. A., et al. (2020) · Nature Photonics · doi:10.1038/s41566-020-0657-2 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Photon Acceleration in a Flying Focus
Howard, A. J., Turnbull, D., Davies, A. S., Franke, P., Froula, D. H., & Palastro, J. P. (2019) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.123.124801 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Self-citationBroadband control of topological–spectral correlations in space–time beams
Piccardo, M., Oliveira, M. D., Policht, V. R., et al. (2023) · Nature Photonics · doi:10.1038/s41566-023-01223-y · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Ionization Waves of Arbitrary Velocity
Turnbull, D., Franke, P., Katz, J., et al. (2018) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.120.225001 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Ionization waves of arbitrary velocity driven by a flying focus
Palastro, J. P., Turnbull, D., Bahk, S.-W., et al. (2018) · Physical Review A · doi:10.1103/physreva.97.033835 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Self-citationGaussian pulsed beams with arbitrary speed
Longhi, S. (2004) · Optics Express · doi:10.1364/opex.12.000935 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Broadband space-time wave packets propagating 70 m
Bhaduri, B., Yessenov, M., Reyes, D., et al. (2019) · Optics Letters · doi:10.1364/ol.44.002073 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Free-space optical delay line using space-time wave packets
Yessenov, М., Bhaduri, B., Delfyett, P. J., & Abouraddy, A. F. (2020) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19526-x · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Self-citationSpatiotemporal control of laser intensity through cross-phase modulation
Simpson, T. T., Ramsey, D., Franke, P., et al. (2022) · Optics Express · doi:10.1364/oe.451123 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Self-citationUltrabroadband flying-focus using an axiparabola-echelon pair
Pigeon, J. J., Franke, P., Chong, M. L. P., et al. (2023) · Optics Express · doi:10.1364/oe.506112 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Exact solutions for the electromagnetic fields of a flying focus
Ramsey, D., PIAZZA, A. D., Formanek, M. S., et al. (2023) · Physical Review A · doi:10.1103/physreva.107.013513 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Self-citationLorentz transformation of packetlike solutions of the homogeneous-wave equation
Bélanger, P. A. (1986) · Journal of the Optical Society of America A · doi:10.1364/josaa.3.000541 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Optical shock-enhanced self-photon acceleration
Franke, P., Ramsey, D., Simpson, T. T., et al. (2021) · Physical Review A · doi:10.1103/physreva.104.043520 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Self-citationCanceling and Inverting Normal and Anomalous Group‐Velocity Dispersion Using Space‐Time Wave Packets
Hall, L. A., & Abouraddy, A. F. (2022) · Laser & Photonics Review · doi:10.1002/lpor.202200119 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Self-citationAxial Spectral Encoding of Space-Time Wave Packets
Motz, A. M. A., Yessenov, М., & Abouraddy, A. F. (2021) · Physical Review Applied · doi:10.1103/physrevapplied.15.024067 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationNondispersive Space–Time Wave Packets Propagating in Dispersive Media
He, H., Guo, C., & Xiao, M. (2022) · Laser & Photonics Review · doi:10.1002/lpor.202100634 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Relativistic transformations of quasi-monochromatic paraxial optical beams
Yessenov, М., & Abouraddy, A. F. (2023) · Physical Review A · doi:10.1103/physreva.107.042221 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citationExperimental realization of Lorentz boosts of space-time wave packets
Yessenov, М., Romer, M. A., Ichiji, N., et al. (2024) · Physical Review A · doi:10.1103/physreva.109.013509 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
- Authors
- Almeida, R., Ramsey, D., Abouraddy, A. F., Palastro, J. P., & Vieira, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Rochester (US)
- University of Central Florida (US)
- Venue
- Optics Letters
- Publisher
- Optica Publishing Group
- Published
- 2025-05-12
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 3393
- ISSN
- 0146-9592 (ISSN-L)
- 1539-4794
- OpenAlex
- W4409569836
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 1
- FWCI
- 2.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Optics Letters (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
- Funders
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UI/BD/154677/2022)
- Eupraxia (Project 1801P.01238.1.01 EuPRAXIA PP)
- Fusion Energy Sciences (DE-SC0021057)
- Office of Naval Research (MURI N00014-20-1-2789)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Photonic Crystal and Fiber Optics
- Keywords
- space-time wave packets, spatiotemporal focusing
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
