Optical Analogue of Electronic Bloch Oscillations

Observation of Bloch oscillations in light transport through periodic dielectric systems was discussed. The Bloch oscillations were observed as time-resolved oscillations in transmission, in direct analogy to electronic Bloch oscillations in conducting crystals. It was confirmed experimentally that the oscillation period depends linearly on the optical thickness gradient. The expected behavior of the system was calculated via a standard transfer matrix, with observation of good agreement between theory and experimental observations.