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arXiv · 2510.17227

Reflection and refraction properties of laser-driven 2D quantum well: Analogy with Photonic Time Crystal

Igor V. Smetanin·Alexander V. Uskov
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Abstract

It has been demonstrated that a quantum well with optically excited, homogeneous oscillations of a two-dimensional (2D) electron plasma behaves as a photonic time crystal when it scatters an obliquely incident, weak probe electromagnetic wave. The hydrodynamic approximation is used to describe self-consistently the interaction between the probe wave and the 2D plasma. Such a quantum well becomes a polychromatic source and to the first order in perturbation reflected and transmitted radiation reveals as non-shifted in frequency principal components along with up- and down-shifted in frequency satellites. The downshifted satellites are backward propagating when the frequency of the probe wave is less than that of the plasma oscillations. We found the condition when the downshifted components are the surface waves. For the s-polarized probe wave, we found that the laser-driven quantum well can support propagation of TE surface wave, which would not normally be permitted to propagate freely. The amplitudes of the reflected and transmitted components are determined for the principal components and the up- and down-shifted satellites.

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Igor V. Smetanin, Alexander V. Uskov. 2025-10-20. Reflection and refraction properties of laser-driven 2D quantum well: Analogy with Photonic Time Crystal. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.17227

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