19104, 215 898 9633 (f) 215 898 2124, email: [email protected] **Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Health Sciences Building, 208B, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, email: [email protected]. ***Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Health Sciences Building, 216B, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, email: [email protected] Pover...

In this paper, using the ideas of Bessi and Mather, we present a simple mechanical system exhibiting Arnold diffusion. This system of a particle in a small periodic potential can be also interpreted as ray propagation in a periodic optical medium with a near-constant index of refraction. Arnold diffusion in this context manifests itself as an arbitrary finite change of direction for nearly cons...