EXPERIMENTAL REALIZATIONS OF QUANTUM CHAOS IN DIELECTRIC WAVE-GUIDES

Experimental realizations of standard models in the field of "quantum chaos" are proposed. These are dielectric waveguides that are periodically perturbed along the direction of propagation. The direction of propagation corresponds to time in the quantum chaos problems. The periodic perturbation leads to transitions between the modes of the unperturbed problem as is the case for the quantum chaos problems. The system exhibits chaotic behavior in the limit of geometrical optics, corresponding to classical mechanics. In the quantum chaos problems wave effects suppress this chaotic behavior and lead to localization in mode space. It is found that for a wide range of experimental parameters the behavior of the system is determined by two parameters, corresponding to the stochasticity parameter and Planck's constant in the quantum chaos problems. The correspondence between these problems is investigated in detail and the limits of its validity are studied. Detailed analytical and numerical calculations are presented in a regime of parameters that may be of experimental interest, for planar waveguides and for circular fibers.