title: Optical analogue of electronic Bloch oscillations.
abstract: We report on the observation of Bloch oscillations in light transport through periodic dielectric systems. By introducing a linear refractive index gradient along the propagation direction the optical equivalent of a Wannier-Stark ladder was obtained. Bloch oscillations were observed as time-resolved oscillations in transmission, in direct analogy to electronic Bloch oscillations in conducting crystals where the Wannier-Stark ladder is obtained via an external electric field. The observed oscillatory behavior is in excellent agreement with transfer matrix calculations.
authors.affiliation: European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy and INFM, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sapienza
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Costantino
authors.forename: Diederik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wiersma
authors.forename: Mher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghulinyan
authors.forename: Claudio J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Oton
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pavesi