Pulse compression by photoexcitation-induced dynamics of Bragg mirrors

We propose dynamical Bragg mirrors as a means to compress intense short optical pulses. We show that strong-field photoexcitation of carriers changes the refractive index of the layers and leads to motion of the resonance-defined boundary of the Bragg mirror. In a reflection geometry, this counterpropagating motion leads to significant compression of the incident pulse. We utilize a finite-difference time-domain numerical model to predict up to a six-fold pulse compression in the few-femtosecond regime. Modification of the refractive index and properties of the compressed pulse as a function of the incident pulse parameters are investigated.