Two-Body Kapitza-Dirac Scattering of One-Dimensional Ultracold Atoms

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Auteurs principaux: Becker, André, Koutentakis, Georgios M., Schmelcher, Peter
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Becker, André
Koutentakis, Georgios M.
Schmelcher, Peter
author_facet Becker, André
Koutentakis, Georgios M.
Schmelcher, Peter
contents Kapitza-Dirac scattering, the diffraction of matter waves from a standing light field, is widely utilized in ultracold gases, but its behavior in the strongly interacting regime is an open question. Here we develop a numerically-exact two-body description of Kapitza-Dirac scattering for two contact-interacting atoms in a one-dimensional harmonic trap subjected to a pulsed optical lattice, enabling us to obtain the numerically exact dynamics. We map how interaction strength, lattice depth, lattice wavenumber, and pulse duration reshape the diffraction pattern, leading to an interaction-dependent population redistribution in real and momentum-space. By comparing the exact dynamics to an impulsive sudden-approximation description, we delineate the parameter regimes where it remains accurate and those, notably at strong attraction and small lattice wavenumber, where it fails. Our results provide a controlled few-body benchmark for interacting Kapitza-Dirac scattering and quantitative guidance for Kapitza-Dirac-based probes of ultracold atomic systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_15260
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Two-Body Kapitza-Dirac Scattering of One-Dimensional Ultracold Atoms
Becker, André
Koutentakis, Georgios M.
Schmelcher, Peter
Quantum Gases
Quantum Physics
Kapitza-Dirac scattering, the diffraction of matter waves from a standing light field, is widely utilized in ultracold gases, but its behavior in the strongly interacting regime is an open question. Here we develop a numerically-exact two-body description of Kapitza-Dirac scattering for two contact-interacting atoms in a one-dimensional harmonic trap subjected to a pulsed optical lattice, enabling us to obtain the numerically exact dynamics. We map how interaction strength, lattice depth, lattice wavenumber, and pulse duration reshape the diffraction pattern, leading to an interaction-dependent population redistribution in real and momentum-space. By comparing the exact dynamics to an impulsive sudden-approximation description, we delineate the parameter regimes where it remains accurate and those, notably at strong attraction and small lattice wavenumber, where it fails. Our results provide a controlled few-body benchmark for interacting Kapitza-Dirac scattering and quantitative guidance for Kapitza-Dirac-based probes of ultracold atomic systems.
title Two-Body Kapitza-Dirac Scattering of One-Dimensional Ultracold Atoms
topic Quantum Gases
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.15260