We consider the reflection of de Broglie waves for a three-level atom from an atomic mirror using the evanescent wave at a vacuum dielectric interface. We show that in addition to state-selective reflection the atomic mirror in the near-field region can reflect the atom in a coherent superposition of different internal states entangled with different center-of-mass motion.

• Received 17 September 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.3287