Cold atom scattering by cavity fields in a two-dimensional geometry

TL;DR

This paper develops a quantum theory for cold atom scattering by cavity fields in two dimensions, revealing unique behaviors at low energies related to quasibound states and connecting to classical Rabi dynamics at high energies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel two-dimensional scattering framework for cold atoms interacting with cavity fields, including new expressions for scattering lengths and analysis of quasibound states.

Findings

Scattering lengths derived for atom-cavity interactions.

Identification of quasibound states at low energies.

Connection to classical Rabi limit at high energies.

Abstract

The quantum theory of the cold atom scattering by cavity fields in a two-dimensional geometry is presented. A distinct regime from the usual Raman-Nath, Bragg and Stern-Gerlach regimes is investigated, considering the situation where the cavity light field acts as a repulsive and an attractive two-dimensional potential. General expressions for the scattering lengths (the two-dimensional analogues to the three-dimensional scattering cross-sections) of finding the atoms deexcited or not after their interaction with the cavity are derived. The connection with the classical Rabi limit when the incident atomic kinetic energy is high compared with the atom-field interaction energy is made. In the cold atom regime characterized by much lower incident atomic kinetic energies, the scattering process exhibits very peculiar properties in connection with quasibound states of the atomic motion induced by the attractive potential of the cavity light field.