Phasor analysis of atom diffraction from a rotated material grating

Abstract

The strength of an atom-surface interaction is determined by studying atom diffraction from a rotated material grating. A phasor diagram is developed to interpret why diffraction orders are never completely suppressed when a complex transmission function due to the van der Waals interaction is present. We also show that atom-surface interactions can produce asymmetric diffraction patterns. Our conceptual discussion is supported by experimental observations with a sodium atom beam.

5 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PRA

References in corpus (1)

• Alkali adsorbate polarization on conducting and insulating surfaces probed with Bose-Einstein condensates

Cited by in corpus (12)

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• Impact of Casimir-Polder interaction on Poisson-spot diffraction at a dielectric sphere
• Measurement of atomic diffraction phases induced by material gratings
• Single-, double-, and triple-slit diffraction of molecular matter-waves
• Quantum Vacuum Sagnac Effect
• Dynamical local and non-local Casimir atomic phases
• Matter-wave interferometry: towards antimatter interferometers
• de Broglie Wave Phase Shifts Induced by Surfaces Closer than 25 nm
• Analysis of a Material Phase Shifting Element in an Atom Interferometer