Diffractive orbits in the length spectrum of a 2D microwave cavity with a small scatterer

Fabrice Mortessagne (1) , Olivier Legrand (1) , David Laurent (1)

1 LPMC - Laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée

In a 2D rectangular microwave cavity dressed with one point-like scatterer, a semiclassical approach is used to analyze the spectrum in terms of periodic orbits and diffractive orbits. We show, both numerically and experimentally, how the latter can be accounted for in the so-called length spectrum which is retrieved from 2-point correlations of a finite range frequency spectrum. Beyond its fundamental interest, this first experimental evidence of the role played by diffractive orbits in the spectrum of an actual cavity, can be the first step towards a novel technique to detect and track small defects in wave cavities.

Mots clés: approximations semiclassiques; orbites diffractives; cavité microondes; détection de défauts

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]

Fabrice Mortessagne, Olivier Legrand, David Laurent. Diffractive orbits in the length spectrum of a 2D microwave cavity with a small scatterer. 2006. ⟨hal-00019649v1⟩