Peschel, U.U.PeschelPertsch, T.T.PertschLederer, F.F.Lederer2022-03-032022-03-031998https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/19309210.1364/OL.23.0017012-s2.0-0001253142We show that optical Bloch oscillators can emerge in waveguide arrays with linearly varying propagation constants. The existence of localised modes (Wannier-Stark states) with equidistant wavenumber spacing (Wannier-Stark ladder) that do not undergo diffraction is analytically proved. The evolution of arbitrary initial excitations is described, and potential applications are suggested.enoptical bloch oscillatorwaveguide array620535journal article