Experimental study of quantum dynamics in a regime of classical anomalous diffusion

We measure the momentum of cold cesium atoms in a periodically pulsed standing wave of light. This system is an experimental realization of the quantum kicked rotor. The momentum diffusion in the (chaotic) classical analog of this system is typically suppressed by quantum localization. We find, however, that for certain pulse amplitudes where the classical system exhibits anomalous diffusion, our momentum distributions are not exponentially localized. We observe a predicted correspondence between the classical and quantum energy growth as a function of pulse amplitude and period. [S0031-9007(98)07597-8].