Adiabatic asymmetric scattering of atoms in the field of a standing wave

TL;DR

This paper models the asymmetric coherent scattering of atoms in a standing wave under adiabatic conditions, revealing how initial wave-packet splitting leads to different diffraction patterns in adiabatic versus resonant regimes.

Contribution

It introduces a model for adiabatic asymmetric scattering of atoms, highlighting the impact of initial wave-packet splitting on diffraction patterns in different regimes.

Findings

Adiabatic scattering results in refraction-like behavior.

Resonant scattering exhibits bi-refringence.

Different regimes produce distinct diffraction patterns.

Abstract

A model of the asymmetric coherent scattering process (caused by initial atomic wave-packet splitting in the momentum space) taking place at the large detuning and adiabatic course of interaction for an effective two-state system interacting with a standing wave of laser radiation is discussed. We show that the same form of initial wave-packet splitting may lead to different, in general, diffraction patterns for opposite, adiabatic and resonant, regimes of the standing-wave scattering. We show that the scattering of the Gaussian wave packet in the adiabatic case presents refraction (a limiting form of the asymmetric scattering) in contrast to the bi-refringence (the limiting case of the high-order narrowed scattering) occurring in the resonant scattering.