Pfau, TilmanAdams, Charles S.Mlynek, Jürgen2009-10-192016-03-312009-10-192016-03-311993318057158http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:93-opus-47338http://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/handle/11682/7081http://dx.doi.org/10.18419/opus-7064In this letter we present a theoretical study of the coherent diffraction of three-level atoms from a light field with a polarization gradient (counterpropagating crossed linearly polarized beams) and a static magnetic field applied parallel to the laser propagation direction. We show that for a particular ratio of the laser field intensity and the magnetic-field strength, there occurs a resonance between the Larmor precession of the magnetic alignment and the Rabi oscillations. On resonance the atomic wave function is diffracted by an approximately triangular optical potential which leads to a very efficient coherent splitting of the atomic beam. The proposed configuration is particularly interesting in relation to atom interferometry, when efficient coherent beam splitters for atoms are required.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessAtombestrahlung , Atominterferometrie , Atomoptik530article