Resonance-Radiation Force Exerted by a Circularly Polarized Light on an Atomic Wave Packet

We study the behaviour of an atomic wave packet in a circularly polarized light, and especially give the calculation of the radiative force exerted by the circularly polarized light on the atomic wave packet under the resonance condition. A general method of the calculation is presented and the result is interesting. For example, under the condition that the wave packet is very narrow or/and the interaction is very strong, no matter whether the atom is initially in its ground state or excited state, as time approaches to infinity, the resonance-radiation force exerted by the light on the atom approaches to zero. If the atom is initially in its ground state and excited state with the probability 1/2 respectively, and if the momentum density is a even function, then the resonance-radiation force exerted by the light on the atom is equal to zero.