Quantum carpets woven by cold atoms in a laser field

Abstract

Propagation of wave packets of cold two-level atoms in a standing-wave laser field can be interpreted in the dressed-state basis as motion in two optical potentials. The three distinct regimes of the wavepacket motion are specified by the ratio of the squared atom–laser detuning to the normalized Doppler shift. We calculate the momentum and position probability densities, which form patterns with minima and maxima of probability both in the momentum and the position spaces known as quantum carpets. At small and large detunings, the atomic motion is substantially adiabatic, and the quantum carpets have a simple form. At intermediate detunings, the wave packet moves nonadiabatically, splitting at each node of the standing wave, which causes a proliferation or branching of atomic trajectories with a single atom. Nonadiabatic transitions produce beautiful quantum carpets with a rich structure.