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Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters

Asymmetry of the scattering amplitude of atoms in the field of short counterpropagating light pulses

V. I. Romanenko, Леонід Петрович Яценко

Published Jun 1, 1996• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Rectification in bipotential scattering of a beam of atoms in the field of short pulses of traveling and standing waves is studied: As a result of the coherence induced by the traveling-wave pulse, the momentum transferred to the atomic beam during scattering by the standing wave is nonzero. The magnitude and sign of the asymmetry in the scattering amplitude are oscillatory functions of the duration of the traveling-wave pulse and the detuning of the frequency of the field from atomic resonance.

DOI
10.1134/1.567128

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Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Nov 1, 1985•100 citations
Rectification in bipotential scattering of a beam of atoms in the field of short pulses of traveling and standing waves is studied: As a result of the coherence induced by the traveling-wave pulse, the momentum transferred to the atomic beam during scattering by the standing wave is nonzero. The magnitude and sign of the asymmetry in the scattering amplitude are oscillatory functions of the duration of the traveling-wave pulse and the detuning of the frequency of the field from atomic resonance.
The scattering of an atom in the field of counterpropagating light waves is studied under conditions such that the state of the atom is a superposition of the ground and excited states. For the case in which this superposition is created by the field of a traveling wave, the momentum distribution function of the atom after scattering by a standing wave is found analytically in the approximation of a short interaction time, when the atom’s motion can be neglected. Longer interactions of the atom with the field are studied numerically. We also consider the case of counterpropagating light waves consisting of Gaussian or supergaussian pulses.
Atoms undergo two types of momentum changes as they pass across a near-resonant standing wave. First, their transverse momentum spreads. Second, if the atoms cross the field at an angle, they undergo Bragg scattering from the periodic structure provided by the wave. Classically, this behavior can be understood in terms of traveling waves: the atom catalyzes the transfer of momentum from one traveling wave to the other, thereby changing its own transverse momentum. In the quantum regime, however, there is an essential difference between scattering by two running waves and by a standing wave. With running waves, we can in principle know which of the two waves has exchanged a unit of momentum with the atom. In contrast, a standing wave is an inseparable quantum unit whose average momentum remains zero at all times. This unity is imposed by the fixed mirrors that establish the standing wave. These act as infinite sinks of momentum. Quantum mechanics forbids one even in principle to determine, via a field measurement from which traveling wave the atom picked up its momentum. To demonstrate this point, we discuss the diffraction and deflection of an atom in both a standing wave and a superposition of two counter-propagating running waves.
In this paper we present some new results concerning the observed anomalous frequency properties of the process of the neutral atom scattering in the standing light wave field near the reflecting mirror. The investigations were carried out using the method of scattering of the sodium atomic strip beam, intersecting at right angle the region of the standing light wave field. The standing light wave field was formed by two counterpropagating waves of resonant laser radiation -- incident and reflected from the mirror, mounted at a distance of about 1 cm from the atomic beam. The coherence length of the laser radiation was about 10 cm, that's why the interaction of atoms with the field of two counterpropagating light waves was coherent. The width of the strip atomic beam (a equals 0.02 cm) was much less than the distance to the mirror. The specific feature of the given setup is the use of pulsed laser radiation with the duration (tau) less than 1/(gamma) ((gamma) -1- the time of resonant level spontaneous decay), so the atoms are scattered only due to the induced light pressure force. In this paper the detailed investigation of the distance R influence on the scattering process was carried out. With this purpose the mirror was mounted at different distances from the atomic beam. (truncated)
The scattering of neutral sodium atoms by a strong field of two counterpropagating (incident on and reflected from a mirror) short laser pulses was used in an experimental investigation of a stimulated radiation pressure. The reasons for the anomalous frequency structure in the scattering of atoms were identified. The oscillatory nature of the dependence of the scattering on the detuning from resonance was found to be significant in strong laser radiation fields. The oscillation period depended on the distance between the reflecting mirror and the atomic beam.
The influence of the initial state preparation by an interaction with resonant traveling waves on the anomalous standing wave scattering of a two-level system with magnetic sublevels for arbitrary coherency (1) between the atomic sublevels and (2) between the polarizations of counterpropagating waves is discussed. The potential of the magnetic sublevels and light polarization in the formation of specific types of split initial momentum distributions is pointed out. It is found a new effect of narrowing of the interference fringes of the diffraction pattern taking place at particular case of the initial wave packet splitting involving two translation states, whose momenta differ by two photon momenta, corresponding to the same energy level. It is shown that this narrowing can be combined with the known asymmetric scattering.
We consider the interference of atoms caused by the wave nature of their motion. Coherently interfering beams of particles may be obtained by using the diffraction of atoms from separated standing waves resonant with the transition between the ground and excited states of the atoms. Interference arises with and without spatial separation of the diffracted atomic beams. A problem concerning two-quantum perturbation of the wave function of an atom in the ground state by a standing-wave field has been solved. Both amplitude and phase perturbation are taken into account. We show that in spite of the absence of coherence in the incident beam and a rapid decay of the coherence induced by the standing wave for scattered spatially overlapping beams, the interference can be observed for the conditions of an echo. We first consider the phenomenon of an echo under the quantum-mechanical action of light on the translational degrees of freedom. We show that owing to this phenomenon phase memory can be transferred through the ground state over unlimitedly large distances. Owing to the interference of the density harmonics, a periodic structure in the spatial distribution of the atomic density with a period of less than one wavelength of the light is localized at distances of the order of the distance between the fields. The harmonic amplitude is calculated for instantaneous excitation in the case in which the duration of the excitation is comparable with the backward Doppler linewidth in the beam and for scattering under Bragg conditions. In the latter case we show that the effective temperature of the atoms participating in the interference is less than one recoil energy.