Abstract

Gratings of different types have been largely studied in quantum and nonlinear optics. The generation of a spatial modulation in one of the variables that characterize the system (polarization, population, index of refraction, …), along with nonlinear interactions is the cause of well-known effects such as multiple wave mixing. These investigations have been performed in the regime where the momentum transfer between absorbed or scattered photons and the partecipating atoms could be neglected. However, a deeper understanding of the role of atomic recoil in the atom-photon interact ion in a vapor has made a very fine control of the process possible. The most spectacular results have been the creation of lattices of cooled atoms [1] and manipulation of atoms [2].

© 1996 IEEE