RADIATING COHERENT ATOMIC WAVE-PACKETS

Recent progress in the production and control of atomic wave packets c alls for reexamination of the most fundamental quantum optical process es. We examined the evolution of the atomic wave packet resonantly dri ven by the monochromatic laser beam and the spontaneous emission from an extended atom. We stress the role of Doppler shifts in the dephasin g of the atomic dipole. New effects of single-pulse photon echo, homog eneous Doppler modification of the emission line, and interference eff ects in the coherent part of the emission spectrum are discussed. We a lso present the emission spectra of an atom oscillating in a harmonic trap.