Relativistic transformations of quasi-monochromatic optical beams

Abstract: A monochromatic plane wave recorded by an observer moving with respect to the source undergoes a Doppler shift and spatial aberration. We investigate here the transformation undergone by a generic, paraxial, spectrally coherent quasi-monochromatic optical \textit{beam} (of finite transverse width) when recorded by a moving detector. Because of the space-time coupling engendered by the Lorentz transformation, the monochromatic beam is converted into a propagation-invariant pulsed beam traveling at a group velocity equal to that of the relative motion, and which belongs to the recently studied family of `space-time wave packets'. We show that the predicted transformation from a quasi-monochromatic beam to a pulsed wave packet can be observed even at terrestrial speeds.