Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2370–2373 (2000)Average Energy Flow of Optical Pulses in Dispersive MediaReceived 28 May 1999; published in the issue dated 13 March 2000 The arrival time of a light pulse at a point in space is defined using a time expectation integral over the Poynting vector. The delay between pulse arrival times at two distinct points is shown to consist of two parts: a spectral superposition of group delays (inverse of group velocity) and a delay due to spectral reshaping via absorption or amplification. The result provides a context wherein group velocity is always meaningful even for broad band pulses and when the group velocity is superluminal or negative. The result imposes luminality on sharply defined pulses. © 2000 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2370
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2370
PACS:
42.25.Bs
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