Interplay between quantum diffusion and localization in the atom-optics kicked rotor

tom-optics kicked rotor represents an experimentally reliable version of the paradigmatic quantum kicked rotor system. In this system, a periodic sequence of kicks are imparted to the cold atomic cloud. After a short initial diffusive phase the cloud settles down to a stationary state due to the onset of dynamical localization. In this paper, to explore the interplay between localized and diffusive phases, we experimentally implement a modification to this system in which the sign of the kick sequence is flipped after every M kicks. This is achieved in our experiment by allowing free evolution for half the Talbot time after every M kicks. Depending on the value of M, this modified system displays a combination of enhanced diffusion followed by asymptotic localization. This is explained as resulting from two competing processes—localization induced by standard kicked rotor type kicks, and diffusion induced by the half Talbot time evolution. The experimental and numerical simulations agree with one another. The evolving states display localized but nonexponential wave function profiles. This provides another route to quantum control in the kicked rotor class of systems.