Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters
Diffraction of the wave packet of a three-level Λ atom in the field of a multifrequency standing light wave
Anatoly S. Pazgalev, Yu. V. Rozhdestvenskiǐ
Abstract
The diffraction of the wave packet of a three-level atom in a multifrequency optical radiation field is studied. A new type of coherent beam splitter for atoms that employs the scattering of a wave packet in the field of four standing light waves with different spatial shifts is proposed on this basis. It is shown that this interaction scheme makes it possible to obtain large splittings (>100ℏ k ) of the wave packet of a three-level Λ atom in momentum space into only two coherent components. In addition, the atoms in these coherent components are in long-lived atomic states, which substantially simplifies the experimental implementation of such a splitter.