LAUSR

Refraction at the interface between two materials is fundamental to the interaction of light with photonic devices and to the propagation of light through the atmosphere at large 1 . Underpinning the traditional rules for the refraction of an optical field is the tacit presumption of the separability of its spatial and temporal degrees of freedom. We show here that endowing a pulsed beam with precise spatiotemporal spectral correlations 2 – 4 unveils remarkable refractory phenomena, such as group-velocity invariance with respect to the refractive index, group-delay cancellation, anomalous group-velocity increase in higher-index materials, and tunable group velocity by varying the angle of incidence. A law of refraction for ‘spacetime’ (ST) wave packets 5 – 10 encompassing these effects is verified experimentally in a variety of optical materials. Spacetime refraction defies our expectations derived from Fermat’s principle and offers new opportunities for moulding the flow of light and other wave phenomena. An appropriately designed pulsed beam crossing an interface is shown to enable phenomena including anomalous group-velocity increase in higher-index materials, and tunable group velocity by varying the angle of incidence.