Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

AIP conference proceedings

Deflection of an atomic beam by the Casimir force

E. A. Hinds, Charles I. Sukenik, M. G. Boshier, D. Cho

Published Jan 1, 1991• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The force experienced by an atom inside a parallel‐plate waveguide is one of the basic phenomena of cavity QED. The full QED expression for this force is a complicated function, which depends upon the atomic oscillator strengths, the position of the atom, and the width of the cavity. For ground‐state atoms one can distinguish two simple limits. (i) When the gap is sufficiently small, the force takes on the form of a van der Waals interaction between the instantaneous electric dipole of the atom and its multiple images in the walls of the waveguide. (ii) In a large gap, when the atom is far from the walls, the van der Waals force is suppressed and the main force predicted by theory is due to the Casimir interaction of the atom with the cavity vacuum field. Whereas the van der Waals force between atoms and conductors has previously been studied experimentally, the Casimir force has not. Here we report the first observation of atom deflection by the Casimir force.

DOI
10.1063/1.40964

Related papers

Measurement of the van der Waals interaction between an atom and a cavity

E. A. Hinds, Vahid Sandoghdar, Charles I. Sukenik +1 more

We have measured the energy of interaction between a sodium atom and its electrical images in the walls of a micron‐sized cavity. The atoms are centrally located between two plane parallel gold mirrors whose separation is varied from 500 nm to 2400 nm. In the smallest cavities, the atoms are held near the center by means of a one‐dimensional optical dipole trap. Energy level shifts are measured directly by laser spectroscopy of the states nS with n in the range 10–13. This cavity QED study provides the first direct, quantitative test of the Lennard‐Jones–van der Waals interaction as a function of controlled atom‐surface separation and mean square electric dipole moment.

AIP conference proceedings•Jan 1, 1993•0 citations

Atoms in micron-sized metallic and dielectric waveguides

Edward A. Hinds, K. S. Lai, M. Schnell

Over the past ten years, our group has investigated the effects of confinement on atoms inside metallic micron–sized cavities in order to elucidate some basic phenomena in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). The first of these was the inhibition of spontaneous emission from an atom inside a cavity. This was followed by a laser spectroscopic measurement of the van der Waals interaction between a single Rydberg atom and a gold cavity, which showed that a simple electrostatic model of the atom–cavity interaction is correct when the cavity is small enough. More recently, the retarded Casimir–Polder force was measured between a ground state sodium atom and a large cavity, demonstrating that the van der Waals potential fails at long enough range and that the vacuum fluctuations of the field then have an important role in the interaction of the atom with the cavity. Our group is now pushing forward these investigations to study cavities whose walls have losses and dispersion, where the theory of cavity QED is significantly more complicated. With real surfaces, we have to deal with the complex dielectric response ε(ω) of the material, which exhibits frequency–dependent absorption and dispersion. One particularly interesting case is when a downward transition in the atom is resonant with an excitation of the cavity walls. This opens a new branch for the atomic decay: as an alternative to creating a photon within the space surrounded by the cavity walls the atomic decay can now create an electromagnetic excitation of the walls themselves. Another novel feature of our experiments is that the Bohr frequencies of the atom are close to the kT/h, where T is room temperature. We therefore expect to be able to measure effects associated with QED at finite temperature; in other words, to study how the blackbody radiation affects our experiments. By conducting experiments with real surfaces, we hope to elucidate and perhaps simplify the theoretical models used to describe these systems.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences•Dec 15, 1997•22 citations

New Physics with Evanescent Wave Atomic Mirrors: The van der Waals Force and Atomic Diffraction

Nathalie Westbrook, Christoph Ira Westbrook, Arnaud Landragin +11 more

After a brief introduction to the field of atom optics and to atomic mirrors, we present experimental results obtained in our group during the last two years while studying the reflection of rubidium atoms by an evanescent wave. These involve the first measurement of the van der Waals force between an atom in its ground state and a dielectric wall, as well as the demonstration of a reflection grating for atoms at normal incidence. We also consider the influence of quantum reflection and tunnelling phenomena. Further studies using the atomic mirror as a probe of the van der Waals interaction, and of very small surface roughness are briefly discussed.

Physica Scripta•Jan 1, 1998•28 citations

Measurment of the Van-der-Waals interaction between an atom and a cavity

E. A. Hinds, Vahid Sandoghdar, CI Sukenik +1 more

We have measured the energy of interaction between a sodium atom and its electrical images in the walls of a micron‐sized cavity. The atoms are centrally located between two plane parallel gold mirrors whose separation is varied from 500 nm to 2400 nm. In the smallest cavities, the atoms are held near the center by means of a one‐dimensional optical dipole trap. Energy level shifts are measured directly by laser spectroscopy of the states nS with n in the range 10–13. This cavity QED study provides the first direct, quantitative test of the Lennard‐Jones–van der Waals interaction as a function of controlled atom‐surface separation and mean square electric dipole moment.

•Jan 1, 1993•0 citations

Measurement of the van der Waals Force in an Atomic Mirror

Arnaud Landragin, J.-Y. Courtois, G. Labeyrie +3 more

We have measured the attractive van der Waals force between a dielectric wall and an atom in its ground state. The method is a direct force measurement in which we use an evanescent wave atomic mirror to balance the van der Waals force and the inertia of the incident atom.

Physical Review Letters•Aug 19, 1996•256 citations

The London-van der Waals interaction in the presence of evanescent waves

Ángela M. Guzmán

The London-van der Waals potential experienced by an atom under reflection from an atomic mirror is modeled as a quantum dipole-dipole interaction between the atomic dipole induced by the evanescent wave and its image dipole in the dielectric mirror. The quantum dipole-dipole interaction arises from the combined effect of the evanescent field and spontaneous emission. It depends on the electronic structure of the atom and is described by an effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian that yields dissipative effects under reflection. The analytical expression obtained here preserves the power-law dependence of the static van der Waals interaction at distances close to the wall, but its long-distance behavior reflects that of the evanescent wave.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Oct 21, 2004•0 citations
The force experienced by an atom inside a parallel‐plate waveguide is one of the basic phenomena of cavity QED. The full QED expression for this force is a complicated function, which depends upon the atomic oscillator strengths, the position of the atom, and the width of the cavity. For ground‐state atoms one can distinguish two simple limits. (i) When the gap is sufficiently small, the force takes on the form of a van der Waals interaction between the instantaneous electric dipole of the atom and its multiple images in the walls of the waveguide. (ii) In a large gap, when the atom is far from the walls, the van der Waals force is suppressed and the main force predicted by theory is due to the Casimir interaction of the atom with the cavity vacuum field. Whereas the van der Waals force between atoms and conductors has previously been studied experimentally, the Casimir force has not. Here we report the first observation of atom deflection by the Casimir force.
We have measured the energy of interaction between a sodium atom and its electrical images in the walls of a micron‐sized cavity. The atoms are centrally located between two plane parallel gold mirrors whose separation is varied from 500 nm to 2400 nm. In the smallest cavities, the atoms are held near the center by means of a one‐dimensional optical dipole trap. Energy level shifts are measured directly by laser spectroscopy of the states nS with n in the range 10–13. This cavity QED study provides the first direct, quantitative test of the Lennard‐Jones–van der Waals interaction as a function of controlled atom‐surface separation and mean square electric dipole moment.
Over the past ten years, our group has investigated the effects of confinement on atoms inside metallic micron–sized cavities in order to elucidate some basic phenomena in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). The first of these was the inhibition of spontaneous emission from an atom inside a cavity. This was followed by a laser spectroscopic measurement of the van der Waals interaction between a single Rydberg atom and a gold cavity, which showed that a simple electrostatic model of the atom–cavity interaction is correct when the cavity is small enough. More recently, the retarded Casimir–Polder force was measured between a ground state sodium atom and a large cavity, demonstrating that the van der Waals potential fails at long enough range and that the vacuum fluctuations of the field then have an important role in the interaction of the atom with the cavity. Our group is now pushing forward these investigations to study cavities whose walls have losses and dispersion, where the theory of cavity QED is significantly more complicated. With real surfaces, we have to deal with the complex dielectric response ε(ω) of the material, which exhibits frequency–dependent absorption and dispersion. One particularly interesting case is when a downward transition in the atom is resonant with an excitation of the cavity walls. This opens a new branch for the atomic decay: as an alternative to creating a photon within the space surrounded by the cavity walls the atomic decay can now create an electromagnetic excitation of the walls themselves. Another novel feature of our experiments is that the Bohr frequencies of the atom are close to the kT/h, where T is room temperature. We therefore expect to be able to measure effects associated with QED at finite temperature; in other words, to study how the blackbody radiation affects our experiments. By conducting experiments with real surfaces, we hope to elucidate and perhaps simplify the theoretical models used to describe these systems.
After a brief introduction to the field of atom optics and to atomic mirrors, we present experimental results obtained in our group during the last two years while studying the reflection of rubidium atoms by an evanescent wave. These involve the first measurement of the van der Waals force between an atom in its ground state and a dielectric wall, as well as the demonstration of a reflection grating for atoms at normal incidence. We also consider the influence of quantum reflection and tunnelling phenomena. Further studies using the atomic mirror as a probe of the van der Waals interaction, and of very small surface roughness are briefly discussed.
We have measured the energy of interaction between a sodium atom and its electrical images in the walls of a micron‐sized cavity. The atoms are centrally located between two plane parallel gold mirrors whose separation is varied from 500 nm to 2400 nm. In the smallest cavities, the atoms are held near the center by means of a one‐dimensional optical dipole trap. Energy level shifts are measured directly by laser spectroscopy of the states nS with n in the range 10–13. This cavity QED study provides the first direct, quantitative test of the Lennard‐Jones–van der Waals interaction as a function of controlled atom‐surface separation and mean square electric dipole moment.
The London-van der Waals potential experienced by an atom under reflection from an atomic mirror is modeled as a quantum dipole-dipole interaction between the atomic dipole induced by the evanescent wave and its image dipole in the dielectric mirror. The quantum dipole-dipole interaction arises from the combined effect of the evanescent field and spontaneous emission. It depends on the electronic structure of the atom and is described by an effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian that yields dissipative effects under reflection. The analytical expression obtained here preserves the power-law dependence of the static van der Waals interaction at distances close to the wall, but its long-distance behavior reflects that of the evanescent wave.