Transitions Between Quantized Standing Waves at Interactions with an Atom in the Raman–Nath Regime

Abstract

The interaction of an atom with an electromagnetic field induces transitions between its quantized modes, in which cos- and sin-standing waves are chosen as the basis for quantization. The number of photons in the modes were calculated in the Raman–Nath regime in the approximation of adiabatic following. It is shown that in the course of transitions an initially populated mode is generally not completely emptied, and the oscillating part of photons increases with the total number in the system.