Chaotic motion of atom in the coherent field of a standing light wave

A new effect of chaotic motion of the center of mass of a cold atom in the coherent field of a standing light wave in a high-finesse Fabry-Pérot cavity is theoretically predicted and numerically implemented in the absence of any random fluctuations due to spontaneous emission. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the Hamiltonian chaos arises near resonance in the range of parameters characteristic of the strong coupling regime that was implemented in recent experiments. The effect is of interest in studying the quantum-classical correspondence and quantum chaos in atomic optics.