Laser Interaction with a Dielectric Block

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.