Experiments on quantum chaos using microwave cavities: Results for the pseudo-integrable L-billiard

Abstract

We describe microwave experiments used to study billiard geometries as model problems of non-integrability in quantum or wave mechanics. The experiments can study arbitrary 2-D geometries, including chaotic and even disordered billiards. Detailed results on an L-shaped pseudo-integrable billiard are discussed as an example. The eigenvalue statistics are well-described by empirical formulae incorporating the fraction of phase space that is non-integrable. The eigenfunctions are directly measured, and their statistical properties are shown to be influenced by non-isolated periodic orbits, similar to that for the chaotic Sinai billiard. These periodic orbits are directly observed in the Fourier transform of the eigenvalue spectrum.