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Raman-Nath and Bragg scattering in atomic deflection

Ewan M. Wright, Scott Alan Glasgow, Pierre Meystre

Published May 21, 1990• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The deflection of a stream of two-level atoms by a standing-wave light field has recently been studied extensively both experimentally and theoretically due to potential use in constructing an atomic inter ferometer with the De Broglie wavelength as its resolution limit.1 Recent experiments have shown the existence of at least two scattering regimes, namely, the Raman-Nath regime2 in which multiple atom ic beams can arise and the Bragg regime3 in which only two coherent beams participate.

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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Oct 29, 2010•0 citations
The deflection of a stream of two-level atoms by a standing-wave light field has recently been studied extensively both experimentally and theoretically due to potential use in constructing an atomic inter ferometer with the De Broglie wavelength as its resolution limit.1 Recent experiments have shown the existence of at least two scattering regimes, namely, the Raman-Nath regime2 in which multiple atom ic beams can arise and the Bragg regime3 in which only two coherent beams participate.
Atomic beam deflection in a quantum field is studied theoretically for the case of an atom passing through the mode of a resonant optical cavity. Deflection probability is calculated for a coupling rate g of order g/2{pi}=1 MHz, which is experimentally feasible in a short optical cavity. Atomic velocities are taken in the range of 1-10 m/s, which can be reached with current cooling and trapping techniques. We calculate deflection for a coherent state with mean photon number , and for a number state. For the parameters studied, the predicted scattering is in an intermediate regime between Raman-Nath and Bragg, but is closer to the former. We find significant deflection probability even for =1, indicating potential for a high level of sensitivity. We report on our progress in the experimental realization of this system with laser cooled sodium atoms as the atomic medium, and directions for future work are indicated.
We investigate to which extent the quantum nature of light modifies laser-induced atomic beam deflection in a plane standing wave. Our model considers a single two-level atom interacting with a single quantized standing wave mode of the electromagnetic field. We neglect spontaneous emission into other field modes, an approximation valid for short enough times. We find that there is an essential qualitative difference between the cases of a coherent field and a thermal field. For a coherent field, the atomic momentum distribution after interaction has two symmetric peaks on the wings and resembles the semiclassical result of Arimondo et al. [Phys. Rev. A 24, 898 (1981)]. For a thermal field, this distribution has its maximum at p = 0. It is characterized by a constant contribution at p = 0, some sharp interference features, and near-Gaussian wings. The only feature common to both cases is that in the Raman-Nath regime of scattering, the range on transverse momenta grows linearly with time at a rate proportional to 〈 n 〉 , where 〈 n 〉 is the mean number of photons in the field.
We extend the previous theoretical treatment of standing-wave deflection of two-level atoms to include nonresonant excitation, nonorthogonal laser and atomic beams, and excitation duration upper bounded only by atomic relaxation times. Numerically solving equations analogous to those of abruptly initiated multilevel atomic excitation, we find bounds on the maximum deflection fixed by balancing acquired kinetic energy against interaction energy. We find that frequency detuning or nonorthogonal orientation of laser and atomic beams can enhance the deflection and, given sufficiently long interaction time, one can observe deflections at larger discrete angles. We comment on the connection between these Bragg scatterings and multiphoton resonances.
Deflection of an atomic beam passing through two crossed standing light waves is proposed for studies of transition through the Raman resonance in Λ -atomic systems. Considering different regimes of excitation of Λ -atoms by offresonant standing waves, we demonstrate that the deflection patterns, in the plane perpendicular to the direction of the center of atomic mass motion, are essentially different for the cases of one-photon and two-photon excitations. Visualization of the quantum superposition states of low atomic levels on the two-dimensional spatial patterns of atomic deflection is performed.