Femtosecond pulse shaping with a stratified diffractive structure

Upon transmission of an optical pulse through a finite-size photonic band g ap structure, along with a strong attenuation and an apparently superlumina l propagation of the maximum of intensity, a shortening of the pulse durati on has been observed in experiment and numerical simulation of the interact ion between a wave and matter. To give an explanation for this observation, a simplified model for the spectral transmission properties of a 1D band g ap structure (dielectric mirror) is analyzed. The results are compared to t he shortening of numerically obtained temporal pulse profiles. (C) 2000 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.