We study up to the sixth order of Bragg deflection of metastable neon atoms from a standing light wave, corresponding to a momentum transfer of 12ħk. We derive an analytical result for the scattering probability, suitable for arbitrarily high Bragg order, and demonstrate its agreement with experimental results. We investigate the effect of velocity distribution on the Bragg process and show that overlapping diffraction orders can be resolved in velocity space. The prospect of using Bragg scattering as the optics in a Mach-Zehnder style atom interferometer with large splitting is discussed.

• Received 10 July 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.52.3966