Wave control with "time materials" (Conference Presentation)

Because time and space play a similar role in wave propagation, wave propagation is affected by spatial modulation or by time modulation of the refractive index. Here we emphasize the role of time modulation. We show that sudden changes of the medium properties generate instant wave sources that emerge instantaneously from the entire wavefield and can be used to control wavefield and to revisit the way to create time-reversed waves. Experimental demonstrations of this approach will be presented. More sophisticated time manipulations can also be studied and extension of these concepts in the field of plasmonics will be presented.