Diffraction of Bose-Einstein condensates in quantized light fields

Abstract

We investigate the atomic diffractions of a Bose-Einstein condensate in quantized light fields. Situations in which the light fields are in number states or coherent states are studied theoretically. Analytical derivation and numerical calculation are carried out to simulate the dynamics of the atomic motion. In condition that atoms are scattered by light in the number states with imbalanced photon number distribution, the atomic transitions between different momentum modes would sensitively depend on the transition order and the photon number distribution. The number-state-nature of the light fields modifies the period of atomic momentum oscillations and makes forward and backward atomic transitions unequal. For light fields in coherent states, no matter the intensities of the light fields are balanced or not, the atomic diffractions are symmetric and independent on the transition order.