Stopped atomic wavepackets generated by interaction with a square-profile laser beam
Luis Pumares, Luis Plaja, L. Roso +1 more
The propagation of a two-level atomic wavepacket across a monochromatic laser beam is considered. For small incident kinetic energies of the atom, the wave nature of the centre-of-mass motion becomes apparent. For certain situations, we show that one of the dressed states cannot propagate inside the laser beam, giving rise to an evanescent atomic wavepacket. Their characteristic features close to the condition of evanescent (or non-propagating) wavepackets are analysed. In particular, we present two different situations where almost stopped wavepackets appear.
Quantum and Semiclassical Optics Journal of the European Optical Society Part B•Jun 1, 1996•6 citations