Figure 4

Coherent absorption in (a,b) energy and (c,d) polarization standing waves. In each case experimental data (red dots; characteristic uncertainty in absorption ±0.005) for one and a half cycles of the standing wave [at around zero temporal delay between incident counter-propagating pulses] are overlaid with numerically simulated traces (black lines). Schematics to the left and right illustrate the mutual orientation of the sample and incident beam polarization directions. Panel (d) is annotated with markers (green lines with schematic tags) denoting the levels of travelling wave absorption for polarizations matching the local linear and circular polarization states found within the polarization standing wave. [In the absence of meaningful reference points in null-response measured and simulated data of panel (c), the zero phase position is set arbitrarily.]