LIGHT-SCATTERING BY AN ULTRACOLD TRAPPED ATOM

We study the scattering of light by a single ultracold trapped atom in itially in the ground state of the trapping harmonic potential. We hav e found interesting features of scattering in the regime where the ato mic recoil energy is much larger than the separation between oscillato ry trap levels. Although we present the quantum-mechanical expression for the scattering cross section, special attention is paid to the sem iclassical analysis of the process. We show that the major characteris tics of the scattering might be deduced from two conservation laws: co nservation of energy and momentum in absorption and emission of photon process separately. These conservation laws impose a strong correlati on between scattered light characteristics and the position of the tra pped atom at the moment of photon emission.