Low-Frequency Optical Response, Gain-Assisted Photon Superluminal Propagation, and Optical Drag in a Transparent Conductor Oxide (GZO)

Low-Frequency Optical Response, Gain-Assisted Photon Superluminal Propagation, and Optical Drag in a Transparent Conductor Oxide (GZO) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Low-Frequency Optical Response, Gain-Assisted Photon Superluminal Propagation, and Optical Drag in a Transparent Conductor Oxide (GZO) Azmat Iqbal Bashir, Maryam Sakhi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8950262/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Superluminal propagation of light in various materials has attracted tremendous research for fundamental and practical interest. This study is aimed at investigating the low-frequency off-resonance optical response, gain-assisted superluminal photon propagation, and optical drag through GaZnO, an innovative TCO (transparent conductor oxide) material. TCO materials are among the novel class of optical materials, simultaneously showing high transparency and conductivity, leading to milestone fundamental and practical device implications. Earlier, no study reported superluminal propagation of light and rotary photon drag in GaZnO in the low-frequency range. In particular, gain-assisted superluminal propagation of light and photon drag is studied employing the Drude-Lorentz model. The phenomenon of gain-assisted superluminal propagation is studied in light of negative/positive refractive index and group index that lead to superluminal phase velocity and group velocity. TCO nature of GaZnO is also justified in light of large absorption coefficient and real conductivity at the highest transmission coefficient. The findings may leads to potential applications in the advanced applications in laser and optics, photonics, optical communication systems, signal processing, and quantum information processing. Superluminal speed Gain-assisted superluminal propagation Transparent Conductor Oxide GaZnO Optical drag Optical response Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Highlights.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 24 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 03 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 03 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 24 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 23 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 23 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8950262","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":596136778,"identity":"5974e948-522c-4aef-abdd-9e10d8f7eea1","order_by":0,"name":"Azmat Iqbal Bashir","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACA4YEBnb+jw8+VAA5zMwNhHUcAGlhZjA2nHEGpIWRGC0MYC1m0pxtIC4BLfz9pxM/fyiwzuNvZkg2ZpxXG83fDtTyo2IbTi0SB85uljhgkF4scZjh4OPCbcdzZxxmbGDsOXMbtzUHezcAtRxObDjM2Gw8c9uxXCCjgZmxDbcW+cO8m3+AtMw/zMwmzTvnWO58QloMjvFuA9uy4TAbUEtDTe4GQloMz/BuszgD9IvhYR5mwxnHDuRuBGo5iM8vcufPbr5R8cc6T+54D+ODDzV1ufPOHz744EcFHu9DADOMcRhMHiCkHllLHRGKR8EoGAWjYKQBAJmeYmjLuZ57AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Riphah International University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Azmat","middleName":"Iqbal","lastName":"Bashir","suffix":""},{"id":596136779,"identity":"91aaaa95-f7c1-45fa-8356-1ad462658747","order_by":1,"name":"Maryam Sakhi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Riphah International University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maryam","middleName":"","lastName":"Sakhi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-23 19:38:34","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8950262/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8950262/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103374699,"identity":"1826157f-8ee3-48c4-a717-b841da5e7a6a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-25 03:25:59","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":698051,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"LowfrequencyresponseofGaZnO.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8950262/v1_covered_1627b7e7-2275-4110-834a-2e0be9d1f364.pdf"},{"id":103374698,"identity":"2294f4fd-b5ee-487c-86a6-b6210c8e68ff","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-25 03:25:54","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":14117,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Highlights.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8950262/v1/ecf92d34b2fb9cfd933e39f9.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eLow-Frequency Optical Response, Gain-Assisted Photon Superluminal Propagation, and Optical Drag in a Transparent Conductor Oxide (GZO)\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"optical-and-quantum-electronics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"oqel","sideBox":"Learn more about [Optical and Quantum Electronics](https://www.springer.com/journal/11082)","snPcode":"11082","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11082/3","title":"Optical and Quantum Electronics","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Superluminal speed, Gain-assisted superluminal propagation, Transparent Conductor Oxide, GaZnO, Optical drag, Optical response","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8950262/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8950262/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSuperluminal propagation of light in various materials has attracted tremendous research for fundamental and practical interest. This study is aimed at investigating the low-frequency off-resonance optical response, gain-assisted superluminal photon propagation, and optical drag through GaZnO, an innovative TCO (transparent conductor oxide) material. TCO materials are among the novel class of optical materials, simultaneously showing high transparency and conductivity, leading to milestone fundamental and practical device implications. Earlier, no study reported superluminal propagation of light and rotary photon drag in GaZnO in the low-frequency range. In particular, gain-assisted superluminal propagation of light and photon drag is studied employing the Drude-Lorentz model. The phenomenon of gain-assisted superluminal propagation is studied in light of negative/positive refractive index and group index that lead to superluminal phase velocity and group velocity. TCO nature of GaZnO is also justified in light of large absorption coefficient and real conductivity at the highest transmission coefficient. The findings may leads to potential applications in the advanced applications in laser and optics, photonics, optical communication systems, signal processing, and quantum information processing.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Low-Frequency Optical Response, Gain-Assisted Photon Superluminal Propagation, and Optical Drag in a Transparent Conductor Oxide (GZO)","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-25 03:25:48","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8950262/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-03-24T05:20:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-04T02:06:50+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"71086416483002212725052151273375931054","date":"2026-03-03T15:14:24+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"257166121534217825823217172209179264903","date":"2026-02-26T21:07:03+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-24T08:08:17+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-02-24T03:26:04+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-02-24T02:29:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Optical and Quantum Electronics","date":"2026-02-23T19:32:31+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"optical-and-quantum-electronics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"oqel","sideBox":"Learn more about [Optical and Quantum Electronics](https://www.springer.com/journal/11082)","snPcode":"11082","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11082/3","title":"Optical and Quantum Electronics","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"697e1147-0905-498f-80cd-ac30c0dfd38b","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 25th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-11T17:54:17+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-25 03:25:48","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8950262","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8950262","identity":"rs-8950262","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}