  An exactly-solvable model for the decay of a metastable state coupled to a
semi-infinite tight-binding lattice, showing large deviations from exponential
decay in the strong coupling regime, is presented. An optical realization of
the lattice model, based on discrete diffraction in a semi-infinite array of
tunneling-coupled optical waveguides, is proposed to test non-exponential decay
and for the observation of an optical analog of the quantum Zeno effect.
