Recoil Free Scattering From a Free Gas
Atomic Physics
2009-11-13 v1
Abstract
We present a treatment of decoherence in an atom due to scattering from a gas of free particles. We show that there is a recoil free scattering process that leaves both the atom and the gas in an unchanged state, but allows for the acquisition of a phase shift that remains in the free space limit. This is essential to understanding decoherence in a separated arm atom interferometer, where a gas of atoms forms a refractive medium for a matter wave. Our work clarifies the extent to which scattering of a free particle acts as a which-way measurement.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0801.4951,
title = {Recoil Free Scattering From a Free Gas},
author = {Scott N. Sanders and Florian Mintert and Eric J. Heller},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0801.4951},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
9 pages, 2 figures