Abstract
The development of a bright, monochromatic atomic beam with small mean velocity has broad applications. Two applications for which this technology is particularly relevant are atomic-beam deflection in a quantum field and quantum chaos. Recent theoretical work has shown that atomic- beam deflection can be a sensitive measure of photon statistics.1 Following this work we have carried out a theoretical study of deflection for a wide range of cavity-field and atomic-beam parameters that should be feasible experimentally. We find that for a cavity length of 1 mm and an atomic beam velocity <10 m/s there should be a significant probability of deflection for intracavity photon states with a mean photon number approaching unity. Ideally, this experiment should be performed by sending only one atom at a time through the cavity. This requires the use of a pulsed beam with a fast repetition rate. Atomic- beam deflection in a modulated standing wave has been shown theoretically to be a realization of tire kicked rotor, and quantum localization of this classically chaotic system is predicted.2 An analysis of the relevant parameters indicates that quantum localization can be observed for atoms with velocities of 5 m/s.
© 1994 Optical Society of America
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