Laser Interaction with a Dielectric Block

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a laser beam interacts with a dielectric block, demonstrating conditions for coherence and incoherence phenomena through analytic and numerical methods, highlighting the influence of incidence angle and beam dimensions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed three-dimensional analysis of laser-dielectric interactions, revealing coherence phenomena dependent on geometric and angular parameters.

Findings

Total coherence and incoherence phenomena are demonstrated.

The incidence angle and beam dimensions critically affect coherence.

Three-dimensional calculations extend previous planar models.

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 mir- roring 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 previ- ous studies our calculations here are three-dimensional, although, with suitable approximations, somewhat simpler planar expressions can be derived.