Electrodynamics of photonic temporal interfaces

Emanuele Galiffi; Diego Martínez Solís; Shixiong Yin; Nader Engheta; Andrea Alù

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01947-2

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Electrodynamics of photonic temporal interfaces

Original Articles

- Electrodynamics of photonic temporal interfaces
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 11, Pages: 3612-3620(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Photonics Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
  2.Departamento de Tecnología de los Computadores y de las Comunicaciones, University of Extremadura, 10003 Cáceres, Spain
  3.Department of Electrical Engineering, City College of The City University of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
  4.Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
  5.Physics Program, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USA
- Author bio：
  
  Emanuele Galiffi (egaliffi@gc.cuny.edu)
  Andrea Alù (aalu@gc.cuny.edu)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01947-2
  CLC：
- Received：26 September 2024，
  
  Revised：2025-06-30，
  
  Accepted：30 June 2025，
  
  Published Online：23 September 2025，
  
  Published：30 November 2025
- Accepted：
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Galiffi, E. et al. Electrodynamics of photonic temporal interfaces. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3612-3620 (2025).
DOI：

Galiffi, E. et al. Electrodynamics of photonic temporal interfaces. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3612-3620 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01947-2.

摘要

Abstract

Exotic forms of wave control have been emerging by engineering matter in space and time. In this framework

temporal photonic interfaces

i.e.

abrupt changes in the electromagnetic properties of a material

have been shown to induce temporal scattering phenomena dual to spatial reflection and refraction

at the basis of photonic time crystals and space-time metamaterials. Despite decades-old theoretical studies on these topics

and recent experimental demonstrations

the careful modeling of these phenomena has been lagging behind. Here

we develop from first principles a rigorous model of the electrodynamics of temporal photonic interfaces

highlighting the crucial role of the mechanisms driving time variations. We demonstrate that the boundary conditions and conservation laws associated with temporal scattering may substantially deviate from those commonly employed in the literature

based on their microscopic implementation. Our results open new vistas for both fundamental investigations over light–matter interactions in time-varying structures and for the prospect of their future implementations and applications in optics and photonics.

关键词

Keywords

references

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