Transverse shifts and time delays of spatiotemporal vortex pulses reflected and refracted at a planar interface

Transverse (Hall-effect) and Goos-Hanchen shifts of light beams reflected/refracted at planar interfaces are important wave phenomena, which can be significantly modified and enhanced by the presence of intrinsic orbital angular momentum (OAM) in the beam. Recently, optical spatiotemporal vortex pulses (STVPs) carrying a purely transverse intrinsic OAM were predicted theoretically and generated experimentally. Here we consider the reflection and refraction of such pulses at a planar isotropic interface. We find theoretically and confirm numerically novel types of OAM-dependent transverse and longitudinal pulse shifts. Remarkably, the longitudinal shifts can be regarded as time delays, which appear, in contrast to the well-known Wigner time delay, without temporal dispersion of the reflection/refraction coefficients. Such time delays allow one to realize OAM-controlled slow (subluminal) and fast (superluminal) pulse propagation without medium dispersion. These results can have important implications in various problems involving scattering of localized vortex states carrying transverse OAM.

Automated summary

It has been discovered that light beams reflected or refracted at interfaces can exhibit novel shifts influenced by intrinsic orbital angular momentum, including longitudinal shifts that manifest as time delays. These time delays enable the realization of OAM-controlled slow and fast pulse propagation without medium dispersion, potentially impacting scattering problems involving localized vortex states carrying transverse OAM.