The Kapitza-Dirac effect is similar to the canonical experiment on diffraction of electrons through slits in an opaque screen, except that the diffraction grating has been replaced by a standing wave of light. Remarkably, incident electrons are diffracted by the standing light wave almost as if by a standard diffraction grating. Only recently has this effect been confirmed experimentally in this form [1], although it was originally predicted by Kapitza and Dirac almost 70 years ago. This paper examines the relativistic effects involved in this phenomena using the formalism of quantum field theory.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CLAREMONT/oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:hmc_theses-1147 |
| Date | 01 May 2003 |
| Creators | Clarke, David |
| Publisher | Scholarship @ Claremont |
| Source Sets | Claremont Colleges |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | HMC Senior Theses |
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