Mathias Fink

Photonic crystals and Metamaterials are made from assemblies of multiple elements usually arranged in repeating patterns at scales of the order or smaller than the wavelengths of the phenomena they influence. Because time and space play a similar role in wave propagation, wave propagation is affected as well by spatial modulation or by time modulation of the refractive index. Here we emphasize the role of time modulation. We show that sudden changes of the medium properties generate instant wave sources that emerge instantaneously from the entire wavefield and can be used to control wavefield and to revisit the way to create time-reversed waves. Experimental demonstrations of this approach will be presented. Periodic time manipulations can also be studied in order to extend the concept of photonic crystals in the time domain. The difference between periodic time modulation and periodic spatial modulation will be emphasized and the way an antenna radiates in these two kind of situation will be discussed.