Optical Stern Gerlach Effect beyond the rotating wave approximation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that including counter-rotating terms in the atom-field interaction Hamiltonian significantly alters the Optical Stern Gerlach Effect, revealing a previously unobserved fine structure in atomic beam splitting.

Contribution

It introduces the impact of counter-rotating terms on the Optical Stern Gerlach Effect, extending the understanding beyond the rotating wave approximation.

Findings

Optical Stern Gerlach Effect exhibits a fine structure when counter-rotating terms are included.

Counter-rotating terms cause significant modifications to atomic beam splitting.

The study challenges the conventional rotating wave approximation in this context.

Abstract

We show that the inclusion of counter rotating terms, usually dropped, in the interaction Hamiltonian of the electric dipole of a two level atom with an electromagnetic field leads to significant modification of the splitting of an atomic beam known as Optical Stern Gerlach Effect which now acquires a fine structure.