Eur. Phys. J. D 61, 481-488 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-10505-4

Laser interaction with a dielectric block

¹ Department of Applied Mathematics, State University of Campinas, P.O. Box 6065, SP 13083-970, Campinas, Brazil
² Department of Physics, University of Salento and INFN Lecce, P.O. Box 193, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Corresponding author: ^a deleo@ime.unicamp.br

Received: 13 September 2010
Revised: 15 October 2010
Published online: 3 December 2010

Abstract

Some optical experiments provide the easiest way to test quantum mechanical predictions. Such a situation applies to a laser beam traversing a dielectric structure. The dielectric structure mirroring quantum mechanical potentials. The simplest of these, studied in this paper, involves a single dielectric block. We exhibit both by analytic and numerical calculations explicit examples of total coherence and total incoherence phenomena. Which case appears depends upon the angle of incidence of the laser beam and/or the dimensions of beam vs. block width. Unlike our previous studies our calculations here are three-dimensional, although, with suitable approximations, somewhat simpler planar expressions can be derived.