Related papers: Are atoms waves or particles?
We introduce a simple set--up corresponding to the matter-wave analogue of impurity atoms embedded in an infinite photonic crystal and interacting with the radiation field. Atoms in a given internal level are trapped in an optical lattice,…
In the Kapitza-Dirac effect, atoms, molecules, or swift electrons are diffracted off a standing wave grating of the light intensity created by two counter-propagating laser fields. In ultrafast electron optics, such a coherent beam splitter…
When a quantum object -- a particle as we call it in a non-rigorous way -- is described by a multi-branched wave- function, with the corresponding wave-packets occupying separated regions of the time-space, a frequently asked question is…
Mass is an important concept in classical mechanics, which regards a particle as a corpuscular object. But according to wave-particle duality, we know a free particle can behave like a wave. Is there a wave property that corresponds to the…
The polarization of radiation by scattering on an atom embedded in combined external quadrupole electric and uniform magnetic fields is studied theoretically. Analytic formulae are derived for the scattering phase matrix. Limiting cases of…
The idea that particles are the basic constituents of all matter dates back to ancient times and formed the basis of physical thought well into modern times. The debate about whether light was a wave or a stream of particles also lasted…
Photons deliver their energy and momentum to a point on a material target. It is commonplace to attribute this to particle impact. But since the inflight photon also has a wave nature, we are stuck with the paradox of wave and particle…
Electron matter waves coherently diffract when passing through a periodic structure of light formed by two interfering light waves. In this so-called Kapitza-Dirac effect, the electron momentum changes due to absorption and emission of…
Coherent motion of cold atoms in a standing-wave field is interpreted as a propagation in two optical potentials. It is shown that the wave-packet dynamics can be either regular or chaotic with transitions between these potentials after…
We study theoretically a Fermi-Dirac atomic gas in a one-dimensional optical lattice coupled to a coherent electromagnetic field with a topologically nontrivial soliton phase profile. We argue that the resulting fractional eigenvalues of…
Wave-particle duality finds a natural application for electrons or light propagating in disordered media where coherent corrections to transport are given by two-wave interference. For scatterers with internal degrees of freedom, these…
Kapitza-Dirac scattering, the diffraction of matter waves from a standing light field, is widely utilized in ultracold gases, but its behavior in the strongly interacting regime is an open question. Here we develop a numerically-exact…
The hypothesis that matter is made of some ultimate and indivisible objects, together the restricted relativity principle, establishes a constraint on the kind of variables we are allowed to use for the variational description of elementary…
A reasonable explanation of the confounding wave-particle duality of matter is presented in terms of the reality of the wave nature of a particle. In this view a quantum particle is an objectively real wave packet consisting of irregular…
The time-dependent electromagnetic field can results both pair waves and pair particles. It can be for mathematical relations between two functions with identical argument and difference of phases equal to $\pi$. Two examples both the…
Spin-dependent Kapitza-Dirac scattering of electron beams from counterpropagating bichromatic laser waves in various polarization geometries is studied. The corresponding scattering probabilities are obtained by analytical and numerical…
In this paper conceptual points regarding electrons elastic (Kapitza-Dirac effect) and inelastic diffraction effect on the different type slowed electromagnetic wave structures/light gratings are considered. From the unified point of view…
The phenomenon of wave packet diffraction in space and time is described. It consists in a diffraction pattern whose spatial location progresses with time. The pattern is produced by wave packet quantum scattering off an attractive or…
Diffraction of atoms from surfaces provides detailed insights into structures, interactions, and dynamical processes. However, currently the method is limited to measurements in reflection - diffraction through materials has only been…
A new approach to the geometrization of the electron theory is proposed. The particle wave function is represented by a geometric entity, i.e., Clifford number, with the translation rules possessing the structure of Dirac equation for any…