Journal of Contemporary Physics (Armenian Academy of Sciences)
Improvement of the Raman-Nath approximation for the resonant Kapitza-Dirac scattering
Lilit A. Hovhannisyan, A. Zh. Muradyan
Abstract
On the basis of the well-known Raman-Nath approximation, we have obtained a new analytical form for the amplitude of the resonant Kapitza-Dirac scattering of an atom in the field of counter-propagating laser pulses. Comparison of the obtained formula with that in the Raman-Nath approximation shows that the former describes, in addition to coherent diffraction, also channeling of atoms in a periodic field of counter-propagating laser pulses.