Diffraction of Bose-Einstein condensates in quantized light fields

We investigate the atomic diffraction of Bose-Einstein condensates in quantized light fields. Situations in which the light fields are in number states or coherent states are studied theoretically. Analytical derivation and numerical calculation are carried out to simulate the dynamics of the atomic motion. In the condition that atoms are scattered by light in the number states with imbalanced photon-number distribution, the atomic transitions between different momentum modes would sensitively depend on the transition order and the photon-number distribution. The number-state nature of the light fields modifies the period of atomic momentum oscillations and makes forward and backward atomic transitions unequal. For light fields in coherent states, whether or not the intensities of the light fields are balanced, the atomic diffraction is symmetric and independent of the transition order.