Photon echoes in standing-wave fields: Time separation of spatial harmonics

Abstract

A calculation is presented to describe the response of an atomic system subjected to two strong standing-wave field pulses separated in time. One finds a sequence of output pulses following input pulses which is reminiscent of classical photon echoes. A physical picture of the processes involved in echo formation is presented, and connection is made with the classical picture of photon echoes. The application of these techniques to collision studies is emphasized. It is shown that studies of echoes produced by standing-wave fields can prove advantageous for exploring the effects of small-angle scattering on both level populations and atomic coherences.