  We study the diffraction of quantum degenerate fermionic atoms off of
quantized light fields in an optical cavity. We compare the case of a linear
cavity with standing wave modes to that of a ring cavity with two
counter-propagating traveling wave modes. It is found that the dynamics of the
atoms strongly depends on the quantization procedure for the cavity field. For
standing waves, no correlations develop between the cavity field and the atoms.
Consequently, standing wave Fock states yield the same results as a classical
standing wave field while coherent states give rise to a collapse and revivals
in the scattering of the atoms. In contrast, for traveling waves the scattering
results in quantum entanglement of the radiation field and the atoms. This
leads to a collapse and revival of the scattering probability even for Fock
states. The Pauli Exclusion Principle manifests itself as an additional
dephasing of the scattering probability.

Quantum Physics