Optical Nonlocality in Dynamics of Ultrashort Laser Pulses in Hyperbolic Metamaterials

We reveal theoretically the effects of fast and slow light in transmission of femtosecond laser pulses through a metal nanorod-based hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) and confirm the decisive role of optical nonlocality of HMMs in the appearance of these phenomena in the spectral vicinity of the epsilon-near-zero regime of HMM. Numerical simulations demonstrate that strong spatial HMMs dispersion leads to the appearance of additional wave accompanying common p-polarized one, and it is the interference of these waves that governs the dynamics of the laser pulses propagating in the HMMs. The obtained results sustain recent experimental investigations of fast and slow light effects in similar structures.