Revivals and oscillations of the momentum of light in a planar multimode waveguide - art. no. 123901

The evolution of the transverse momentum of monochromatic light entering a multimode planar waveguide at large angle is investigated. We report on osc illations of the momentum caused by the beatings between the adjacent popul ated modes of the waveguide and their periodic collapses and revivals. A ne w type of an interferometer based on this effect with fringe spacing as sma ll as lambda /9 is demonstrated experimentally, and periods as small as lam bda /1000 seem to be feasible.