Photoionization of a quantum grating formed by a single atom

Abstract

Abstract When an atom passes through a macroscopic diffraction grating its wave function acquires a regular space structure and its collision by another particle can be thought of as scattering, of the latter, on a grating composed of a single atom (hereafter termed as ‘quantum-grating’). Photoionization of such a ‘quantum grating’ unveils interference features and in particular a striking difference in the photoelectron and recoil ion spectra which no longer ‘mirroring’ each other as in the case of photoionization of atoms or molecules. We show that complete information about the macroscopic diffraction grating is directly contained in the recoil ion spectra while only partly exhibited in the spectra of the electron.