Abstract
Diffraction of atoms from a standing-wave light field has been of great interest for several years [1]. For large atom-field detuning, the atomic momentum is changed by even multiples of the photon momentum ħk. Therefore the energy difference δE between neighbouring diffraction orders is proportional to the recoil energy ħωrec. Note that for short atom-field interaction times τ the corresponding energy uncertainty δe=ħτ during the interaction is usually larger than δE. Therefore it is possible to populate many different momentum states if ωrec τ<1. However, uni-directional Bragg scattering of atoms into a single diffraction order requires long interaction times, ωrec τ>1. In this case energy conservation allows transitions only between momentum states with the same energy.
© 1996 Optical Society of America
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