Motion backwards in time? A second example

Abstract

It is a striking result the one found by Wang, Kuzmich & Dogariu 1 (see also 2) experimentally last year, that a pulse of light, entered into an atomic caesium (Cs) vapour cell, appeared at the exit before its entrance (!) by 62 nanoseconds. It has to be mentioned that the shape of the pulse was maintained (cf. fig. 4 of 1), so that its peak was not shifted forward inside the pulse. Thus the explanation that the peak of the pulse was advanced at the exit, with the result of emerging there before the entrance of the peak of the incident pulse, does not apply.