Diffractive geometric optics for Bloch wave packets (Q715337)

A periodic wave equation of a period \(\varepsilon\ll 1\) is studied in the resonant case of wavelength \(l\sim\varepsilon\). For times \(t\sim\varepsilon^{-1}\), the solutions are of slowly varying amplitude associated with Bloch wave packets and characterized by diffractive geometric optics. The dispersion with the corresponding Schrödinger equations is computed from Bloch spectral data whose lower-order (potential) term is obtained by an averaging of the small perturbations of the periodic medium. The authors introduce techniques related to those developed in nonlinear geometric optics which lead to new results even on time scales \(t= O(1)\). A pair of asymptotic solutions yield approximate solutions of initial value problems. The leading term yields \(H^1\) asymptotics when the envelopes are only \(H^1\).