Abstract

The analogy between wave optics and wave mechanics has been often used to study beam propagation in graded-index slab waveguides, fibers and optical resonators using the methods of quantum mechanics and to provide in the optical context an experimentally verifiable framework to test many quantum-mechanical effects, such as the issue of quantum tunneling, quantum chaos phenomena, and many properties of wave propagation in periodic media. The analogy between the dynamics of electrons in crystals and photons in periodic dielectric structures has lead to the relevant recent developments in the field of photonic crystals.

© 2003 Optical Society of America