Control of photon tunneling in optical waveguides

Engineered optical waveguide structures with a controlled photon tunneling rate are shown to provide an experimentally accessible optical system to test universal features of dynamic control of quantum mechanical decay [Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 270405 (2001)]. Examples of deceleration and acceleration of photon tunneling, as well as of suppression of fractional decay, are presented for a periodically curved waveguide coupled to a semi-infinite waveguide array. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.