FEMTOSECOND LIGHT-WAVE PACKETS

We analyze propagation of ultra short light pulses in a transparent, d ispersive, nonlinear medium. A general formula for femtosecond wave pa cket evolution is developed and applied to specific problems. Theoreti cal and experimental results for wave packet distortion by lenses, wav e packet rotation in birefringent media and group velocity matching in sum frequency generation are presented. Numerical results for splitti ng of femtosecond wave packets in dispersive Kerr media are also prese nted.