Abstract
We study the scattering of light by a single ultracold trapped atom initially in the ground state of the trapping harmonic potential. We have found interesting features of scattering in the regime where the atomic recoil energy is much larger than the separation between oscillatory trap levels. Although we present the quantum-mechanical expression for the scattering cross section, special attention is paid to the semiclassical analysis of the process. We show that the major characteristics of the scattering might be deduced from two conservation laws: conservation of energy and momentum in absorption and emission of photon process separately. These conservation laws impose a strong correlation between scattered light characteristics and the position of the trapped atom at the moment of photon emission. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
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