Huygens-Fresnel-Kirchhoff construction for quantum propagators with application to diffraction in space and time
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
We address the phenomenon of diffraction of nonrelativistic matter waves on openings in absorbing screens. To this end, we expand the full quantum propagator, connecting two points on the opposite sides of the screen, in terms of the free particle propagator and spatiotemporal properties of the opening. Our construction, based on the Huygens-Fresnel principle, describes the quantum phenomena of diffraction in space and diffraction in time, as well as the interplay between the two. We illustrate the method by calculating diffraction patterns for localized wave packets passing through various time-dependent openings in one and two spatial dimensions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 013626 |
| Journal | Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Jan 2012 |
Related information
ID: 14460971
