An analytical characterization of the discrete Talbot (self-imaging) effect in binary waveguide arrays. As in ordinary waveguide arrays the effect requires the input's transverse period to be N = 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6, but the two-component (binary) structure adds a condition: for N = 3, 4, 6 the propagation-constant-mismatch parameter sigma must take specific values, while for N = 1, 2 any sigma works. Closed-form expressions give the Talbot distance at which the signal recurs in phase and intensity and the (generally shorter) intensity period at which only the intensity repeats, equal to either half or all of the Talbot distance depending on the case, all confirmed by beam-propagation simulation.
Tran and Tran study the Talbot effect, the periodic self-imaging of a spatially periodic input, in binary waveguide arrays (BWAs). As in conventional waveguide arrays, the discrete Talbot effect can …