Atomic diffraction by light gratings with very short wavelengths

Atomic and molecular diffraction by transmission gratings

A few years ago, diffraction of atoms by double slits and gratings was achieved for the first time, and standard optical wave-theory provided an excellent description of the experiments. More recently, diffraction of weakly bound molecules and even clusters has been observed. Due to their size and to possible breakup processes optical wave-theory is no longer adequate and a more sophisticated a...

Light diffraction from rough gratings.

Two holographic diffraction gratings with very similar parameters, designed for maximum performance inTM polarization, are investigated, their diffraction efficiency measured, an electron microscopic picture of their surface observed, and numerical simulation of light diffraction done with the surface roughness taken into account. It is demonstrated numerically that a small-scale roughness impo...

Laser light routing in an elongated micromachined vapor cell with diffraction gratings for atomic clock applications

This paper reports on an original architecture of microfabricated alkali vapor cell designed for miniature atomic clocks. The cell combines diffraction gratings with anisotropically etched single-crystalline silicon sidewalls to route a normally-incident beam in a cavity oriented along the substrate plane. Gratings have been specifically designed to diffract circularly polarized light in the fi...

A conceptual model of light coupling by pillar diffraction gratings

Diffractive structures such as pillar gratings are a promising way of coupling light into or out of thin semiconductor devices, for applications in thin film solar cells and light-emitting diodes. In this paper we show that the diffuse transmittance behavior of pillar gratings can be understood using the concept of grating mode interference and that the optimum heights of the grating and an est...

Atom wave interferometry with diffraction gratings of light.