ANOMALOUS FREQUENCY STRUCTURE IN THE PROBABILITY OF SCATTERING OF SODIUM ATOMS IN A STRONG-FIELD OF COUNTERPROPAGATING LIGHT-PULSES

Stimulated light pressure is experimentally studied using the method o f scattering of neutral sodium atoms in a strong field two counterprop agating short laser pulses (the backward pulse is produced via reflect ion of the incident laser pulse from a mirror). The recently discovere d oscillatory dependence of the scattering probability on the detuning from the resonance is analyzed, and asymmetry of scattering is studie d in detail. The period of oscillations is shown to be stable with res pect to a change of various interaction parameters, such as the light intensity, polarization properties of radiation, etc. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the period of oscillations considerably depends o n the position of the reflecting mirror.