Paper detail

Photo ionization of an atom passed through a diffraction grating

We consider photo ionization of an atom which, due to passing through a diffraction grating, is prepared in a multi-site state possessing a periodic space structure with alternating maxima and minima. It has been found that this process qualitatively differs from photo ionization of a 'normal' atom. In particular, the spectra of emitted electrons and recoil ions in this process display clear one- and two-particle interference effects. Moreover, there are also striking differences between the momentum distributions of these particles, which no longer mirror each other. The origin of all these features is discussed in detail. It is also shown that the information about the diffraction grating, which is encoded in the multi-site state of the atom, can be fully decoded by exploring the spectra of recoil ions whereas the photo-electron spectra contain this information only partially.