Redirecting and focusing light in space is the most basic technology behind eyeglasses and telescopes. The optical elements -- lenses or mirrors -- are usually static on the time scale of waves and thus do not change their color (frequency).
What would happen if the optical elements are allowed to evolve in time, fast? Now the frequency can change (Doppler effect), but more interestingly, it becomes possible to invent protocols that focus waves not only in space but also in time, with the energy concentrated in short pulses.
This effects can be illustrated by a “photon accelerator” – a (so far) mythical machine that can take a classical cavity light and amplify exponentially its intensity and energy. In the quantum realm, similar manipulation can focus zero-point quantum vacuum fluctuations into pulses, while depleting them elsewhere. This exotic light focusing can be interpreted in terms of emergent space metric that contains event horizons.
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