Physical Review A
Phase-dependent interference effects in bichromatic-field interactions with a two-level atom
S P Goreslavsky, В.Д. Попов
Abstract
The influence of the phase difference of the components of a bichromatic field on the dynamics of a two-level atom is studied in the framework of an analytical approach. We give a new, more adequate explanation of an experiment [R. E. Silverano et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 1070 (1985)] where strong phase effects were observed in the interaction of a fast atomic beam with a standing-wave field. It was shown that these effects are caused by interference of contributions of components of the bichromatic field in the amplitude of the upper state. There is excellent agreement between our analytical results and both experimental data and the results of numerical calculation.