Theoretical tools for atom-laser-beam propagation

Jean-Félix Riou (1) , Yann Le Coq (1) , François Impens (2) , William Guerin (1) , Christian J. Bordé (2) , Alain Aspect (1) , Philippe Bouyer (1)

1 laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique atomique
2 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace

We present a theoretical model for the propagation of non-self-interacting atom laser beams. We start from a general propagation integral equation and we use the same approximations as in photon optics to derive tools to calculate the atom-laser-beam propagation. We discuss the approximations that allow one to reduce the general equation whether to a Fresnel-Kirchhoff integral calculated by using the stationary phase method, or to the eikonal. Within the paraxial approximation, we also introduce the ABCD matrices formalism and the beam quality factor. As an example, we apply these tools to analyze the recent experiment.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]

Jean-Félix Riou, Yann Le Coq, François Impens, William Guerin, Christian J. Bordé, et al.. Theoretical tools for atom-laser-beam propagation. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics, 2008, 77, pp.033630. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.77.033630⟩. ⟨hal-00820911⟩