Coherent backscattering and forward-scattering peaks in the quantum kicked rotor

Abstract

We propose and analyze an experimental scheme using the quantum kicked rotor to observe the newly predicted coherent forward-scattering peak together with its long-known twin brother, the coherent backscattering peak. Contrary to coherent backscattering, which arises already under weak-localization conditions, coherent forward scattering is only triggered by Anderson or strong localization. So far, coherent forward scattering has not been observed in conservative systems with elastic scattering by spatial disorder. We propose to turn to the quantum kicked rotor, which has a long and successful history as an accurate experimental platform to observe dynamical localization, i.e., Anderson localization in momentum space. We analyze the coherent forward-scattering effect for the quantum kicked rotor by extensive numerical simulations, both in the orthogonal and unitary class of disordered quantum systems, and show that an experimental realization involving phase-space rotation techniques is within reach of state-of-the-art cold-atom experiments.