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Published on: May 30, 2019
Observation of Extra Photon Recoil in a Distorted Optical Field
Satyanarayana Bade1, Lionel Djadaojee1, Manuel Andia1
1Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, ENS-PSL University, Collège de France, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris.
Abstract:
Light carries momentum which induces on atoms a recoil for each photon absorbed. In vacuum, for a monochromatic beam of frequency ν, the global momentum per photon is bounded by general principles and is smaller than hν/c leading to a limit on the recoil. However, locally this limit can be broken. In this Letter, we give a general formula to calculate the recoil in vacuum. We show that in a laser beam with a distorted optical field, there are regions where the recoil can be higher than this limit. Using atoms placed in those regions we are able to measure directly the extra recoil.
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