Optical kicked system exhibiting localization in the spatial frequency domain

Rosen, A Fischer, B Bekker, A Fishman, S

A. Rosen et al., Optical kicked system exhibiting localization in the spatial frequency domain, J OPT SOC B, 17(9), 2000, pp. 1579-1588

54

INGLESE

Article

Apllied Physucs/Condensed Matter/Materiales Science","Optics & Acoustics

JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA B-OPTICAL PHYSICS

0740-3224 → ACNP

17

9

2000

1579 - 1588

ISI

0740-3224(200009)17:9<1579:OKSELI>2.0.ZU;2-N

An optical kicked system with free-space light propagation along a sequence of equally spaced thin phase gratings is presented and investigated. We sh ow, to our knowledge for the first time in optics, the occurrence of the lo calization effect in the spatial frequency domain, which suppresses the spr eading of diffraction orders formed by the repeated modulation by the grati ngs of the propagating wave. Resonances and antiresonances of the optical s ystem are described and are shown to be related to the Talbot effect. The s ystem is similar in some aspects to the quantum kicked rotor, which is the standard system in the theoretical studies of the suppression of classical (corresponding to Newtonian mechanics) chaos by interference effects. Our e xperimental verification was done in a specific regime, where the grating s pacing was near odd multiples of half the Talbot length. It is shown that t his corresponds to the vicinity of antiresonance in the kicked system. The crucial alignment of the gratings in-phase positioning in the experiment wa s based on a diffraction elimination property at antiresonance. In the pres ent study we obtain new theoretical and experimental results concerning the localization behavior in the vicinity of antiresonance. The behavior in th is regime is related to that of electronic motion in incommensurate potenti als, a subject that was extensively studied in condensed matter physics. (C ) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(00)01208-X].