Optical precursors in the singular and weak dispersion limits

Abstract

The description of the precursor fields in a single-resonance Lorentz model dielectric is considered in the singular and weak dispersion limits. The singular dispersion limit is obtained as the damping approaches zero and the material dispersion becomes increasingly concentrated about the resonance frequency. The algebraic peak amplitude decay of the Brillouin precursor with propagation distance z 0 then changes from a z−1/2 to a z−1/3 behavior. The weak dispersion limit is obtained as the material density decreases to zero. The material dispersion then becomes vanishingly small everywhere and the precursors become increasingly compressed in the space-time domain immediately following the speed-of-light point z, t = z,z/c . In order to circumvent the numerical difficulties introduced in this case, an approximate equivalence relation is derived that allows the propagated field evolution due to an ultrawideband signal to be calculated in an equivalent dispersive medium that is highly absorptive.