Arbitrary Pulse Shaping using Accelerated Interfaces

Abstract

We propose a novel method for arbitrary pulse shaping based on nonuniform Doppler shifts induced by an accelerated perfect electric conductor (PEC) interface. Unlike conventional pulse shaping techniques, which rely on spectral filtering or nonlinear effects, our approach leverages the controlled motion of an interface to directly reshape the temporal envelope of an optical pulse. We begin by deriving the exact scattering relations for an arbitrarily moving PEC interface and solving the inverse problem to determine the required trajectory that transforms a given input pulse into a desired waveform. The proposed method is validated through illustrative examples, demonstrating its ability to reshape Gaussian pulses into various target profiles, including modulated, rectangular and asymmetric waveforms. Additionally, we confirm our theoretical predictions via finite-difference time-domain simulations.