Pendulum beams: a window into the quantum pendulum

Enrique J. Galvez; Fabio J. Auccapuclla; Kristina L. Wittler; Yingsi Qin

doi:10.1117/12.2510822

1 March 2019 Pendulum beams: a window into the quantum pendulum

Enrique J. Galvez, Fabio J. Auccapuclla, Kristina L. Wittler, Yingsi Qin

Proceedings Volume 10935, Complex Light and Optical Forces XIII; 1093509 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2510822
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2019, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Parallels between the Helmholtz and Schrodinger equations can be exploited for using light beams to investigate quantum problems. We present the study of a type of non-diffracting beams known as pendulum beams, where the optical modes satisfy a form of the Helmholtz equation that is identical to the Schrodinger equation for the mechanical pendulum. We prepared optical beams in the corresponding eigenmodes and made measurements of their Fourier spectrum. We find remarkable quantitative agreement between the measured angular spectrum and the quantum mechanical probabilities.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Enrique J. Galvez, Fabio J. Auccapuclla, Kristina L. Wittler, and Yingsi Qin "Pendulum beams: a window into the quantum pendulum", Proc. SPIE 10935, Complex Light and Optical Forces XIII, 1093509 (1 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2510822

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