Porras, Miguel A.Luis Aina, AlfredoGonzalo Fonrodona, IsabelSanz, Ángel S.2023-06-202023-06-202011-11-141050-294710.1103/PhysRevA.84.052109https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44591©2011 American Physical Society. Support from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Spain) under Projects No. FIS2010-22082 (M.A.P., I.G., A.S.S.), No. FIS2008-01267 (A.L.), and No. FIS2010-18132 (A.S.S.) is acknowledged. A.L. also acknowledges support from Project QUITEMAD S2009-ESP-1594, from the Consejeria de Educacion de la Comunidad de Madrid. A.S.S. would also like to thank the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Spain) for a "Ramon y Cajal" Grant.We analyze a simple and feasible practical scheme displaying Zeno, anti-Zeno, and inverse-Zeno effects in the observation of wave-packet spreading caused by free evolution. The scheme is valid both in spatial diffraction of classical optical waves and in time diffraction of a quantum wave packet. In the optical realization, diffraction spreading is observed by placing slits between a light source and a light-power detector. We show that the occurrence of Zeno or anti-Zeno effects depends just on the frequency of observations between the source and detector. These effects are seen to be related to the diffraction mode theory in Fabry-Perot resonators.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.052109http://journals.aps.org/open access535Quasi-stationary stateQuantum-theoryDecayParadoxÓptica (Física)2209.19 Óptica Física