Kapitza-Dirac Diffraction without Standing Waves: Diffraction without a Grating?

Authors

Olga Smirnova, Vienna Technical University
Daniel L. Freimund, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Herman Batelaan, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Misha Ivanov, NRC CanadaFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

6-2004

Citation

Physical Review Letters (June 2004) 92(22):223601. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.223601. PACS numbers: 33.80.Rv, 42.50.Hz.

Comments

Copyright 2004, American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

We discuss electron diffraction from two counterpropagating light waves with two different frequencies.We show that, even though these waves do not form a standing wave, electron diffraction similar to the conventional Kapitza-Dirac effect, i.e., scattering on a standing wave, is still possible. The nonlinear response of the electron to the laser fields creates a stationary diffraction grating from which the same electron scatters.