English

Phasor analysis of atom diffraction from a rotated material grating

Atomic Physics 2009-11-10 v2

Abstract

The strength of an atom-surface interaction is determined by studying atom diffraction from a rotated material grating. A phasor diagram is developed to interpret why diffraction orders are never completely suppressed when a complex transmission function due to the van der Waals interaction is present. We also show that atom-surface interactions can produce asymmetric diffraction patterns. Our conceptual discussion is supported by experimental observations with a sodium atom beam.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0312084,
  title  = {Phasor analysis of atom diffraction from a rotated material grating},
  author = {Alexander D. Cronin and John D. Perreault},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0312084},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

5 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PRA