Photon Recoil Momentum in Dispersive Media

Journal Article · Fri May 06 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.170403· OSTI ID:20696226

Campbell, Gretchen K; Leanhardt, Aaron E; Mun, Jongchul; Boyd, Micah; Streed, Erik W; Ketterle, Wolfgang; Pritchard, David E ^[1]

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1. MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, Research Laboratory of Electronics and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

A systematic shift of the photon recoil momentum due to the index of refraction of a dilute gas of atoms has been observed. The recoil frequency was determined with a two-pulse light grating interferometer using near-resonant laser light. The results show that the recoil momentum of atoms caused by the absorption of a photon is n({Dirac_h}/2{pi})k, where n is the index of refraction of the gas and k is the vacuum wave vector of the photon. This systematic effect must be accounted for in high-precision atom interferometry with light gratings.

• OSTI ID: 20696226
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 94, Issue 17; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.170403; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
ATOMS
BEAM OPTICS
DIFFRACTION GRATINGS
INTERFEROMETRY
LASERS
PHOTONS
PULSES
QUANTUM MECHANICS
RECOILS
REFRACTIVE INDEX
VECTORS
VISIBLE RADIATION