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Matter-wave self-imaging by atomic center-of-mass motion induced interference

Published

Author(s)

Ke Li, Lu Deng, Edward W. Hagley, M.S. Zhan, Marvin G. Payne

Abstract

We demonstrate matter-wave self-imaging in a stationary light field in the non-Raman-Nath limit. We show that in a non-instantaneous pulsed standing wave grating significant contributions due to the non-negligible atomic center of mass motion and instantaneous Doppler shift can drastically change the condensate momentum distribution, resulting in periodical collapses and recurrences of condensate diffraction probability as a function of the grating pulsing time. The observed matter-wave self-imaging is fundamentally different from the temperal, matter-wave Talbot effect. It is characterized by an atomic population amplitude interference, in the presence of the light field, that simultaneously minimizes all higher (n > 1) diffraction orders and maximizes the zero-th diffraction component.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
101
Issue
25

Keywords

gain, matter wave, Raman-Nath regime diffraction, superradiance effect

Citation

Li, K. , Deng, L. , Hagley, E. , Zhan, M. and Payne, M. (2008), Matter-wave self-imaging by atomic center-of-mass motion induced interference, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.250401, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=842522 (Accessed October 12, 2024)

Issues

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Created December 17, 2008, Updated October 12, 2021