| Abstract: | The wave equation of light beam propagation was written in the form of an axial-coordinate-dependent Schrdinger equation, and the expectation value of a dynamical variable, the trial function of variational approach and the ABCD law were discussed by use of quantum mechanics approach. In view of the evolution equations of expectation values of dynamical variables in the framework of quantum mechanics, the definition of a potential function representing the beam propagation stability and its universal formula with the quality factor, the universal formula of beam width and curvature radius for a paraxial beam and cylindrically symmetric non-paraxial beam, the general formula of second derivative of beam width with respect to the axial coordinate of beam for a paraxial beam, and the general criteria of the conservation of beam quality factor and the existence of a potential well of a potential function for a paraxial beam, were given or derived, respectively. Starting with the same trial function, the comparative research of our formulation with variational approach was done, which gave some further insight into the physical nature of a beam propagation parameters. The ABCD law of non-paraxial beam was discussed in terms of the definition of the non-paraxial expectation value of a dynamical variable for the first time. The applications to the media of constant second derivative of beam width with respect to the axial coordinate of a beam, square law media and the media of constant refractive index in the momentum representation were discussed, respectively. |
