Colloquium : Illuminating the Kapitza-Dirac effect with electron matter optics

The observation of the Kapitza-Dirac effect raises conceptual, theoretical, and experimental questions. The Kapitza-Dirac effect is often described as diffraction of free electrons from a standing wave of light or stimulated Compton scattering. However, for the two-color Kapitza-Dirac effect these two interpretations appear to lead to paradoxical conclusions. The discussion of this paradox deepens our understanding of both of these versions of the Kapitza-Dirac effect.

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