Light Pushes Atoms (IMAGE) Penn State Caption A pencil-like laser beam can be made by intersecting two infinitely wide light waves at a small angle. One might think that an atom would absorb a photon randomly from only one of the beams, as depicted in the section labeled a), but Gibble's paper shows that the atom recoils with a speed that is less than it would get from the momentum of either of the infinitely wide photons, with no sideways recoil, as depicted in b). Credit Kurt Gibble, Penn State Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.