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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Quantum reflection of cold atoms

H. Oberst, Fujio Shimizu

Published Jan 1, 2005• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

The coherent reflection of ultra-cold neon and helium atoms from silicon surfaces and surface structures is measured and analyzed. When the silicon surface is flat, the reflection is explained by the quantum reflection due to van der Waals attractive potential near the silicon surface. When the silicon surface is modified to form a grating structure, the reflectivity increases dramatically. For certain ranges of surface structure parameters, the reflection may be interpreted as a coherent summation of Fresnel diffraction of the atomic wave at the ridges of the grating structure.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/19/1/026

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APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Meeting Abstracts•Oct 1, 2003•0 citations
The coherent reflection of ultra-cold neon and helium atoms from silicon surfaces and surface structures is measured and analyzed. When the silicon surface is flat, the reflection is explained by the quantum reflection due to van der Waals attractive potential near the silicon surface. When the silicon surface is modified to form a grating structure, the reflectivity increases dramatically. For certain ranges of surface structure parameters, the reflection may be interpreted as a coherent summation of Fresnel diffraction of the atomic wave at the ridges of the grating structure.
The specular reflectivity of slow, metastable neon atoms from a silicon surface was found to increase markedly when the flat surface was replaced by a grating structure with parallel narrow ridges. For a surface with ridges that have a sufficiently narrow top, the reflectivity was found to increase more than two orders of magnitude at the incident angle of 10 mRad from the surface. The slope of the reflectivity vs the incident angle near zero was found to be nearly an order of magnitude smaller than that of a flat surface. A grating with 6.5% efficiency for the first-order diffraction was fabricated by using the ridged surface structure.
A cold beam of He∗(23S1){\mathrm{He}}^{*}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}(2\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{3}S_{1})He∗(23S1​) atoms is used at grazing incidence to study the quantum reflection on a flat polished silicon surface. We measure the reflectivity as a function of the normal incident velocity component between 3 and 30cm∕s30\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{cm}∕\mathrm{s}30cm∕s. Our result is in reasonable agreement with a calculation of the attractive van der Waals surface potential using the dielectric function of Si and the dipole polarizability of He∗{\mathrm{He}}^{*}He∗. We discuss the influence of the conductivity and of a thin oxide layer on the potential. By comparing our data to those previously measured with Ne∗{\mathrm{Ne}}^{*}Ne∗ atoms, we are also able to confirm the scaling of the reflectivity with atomic mass.
An ultracold narrow atomic beam of metastable neon in the 1s3[(2s)(5)3p:1P0] state is used to study specular reflection of atoms from a solid surface at extremely slow incident velocity. The reflectivity on a silicon (1,0,0) surface and a BK7 glass surface is measured at the normal incident velocity between 1 mm/s and 3 cm/s. The reflectivity above 30% is observed at about 1 mm/s. The observed velocity dependence is explained semiquantitatively by the quantum reflection that is caused by the attractive Casimir-van der Waals potential of the atom-surface interaction.
We observe high-resolution diffraction patterns of a thermal-energy helium atom beam reflected from a microstructured surface grating at grazing incidence. The grating consists of $10\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$-wide Cr strips patterned on a quartz substrate and has a periodicity of $20\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$. Fully resolved diffraction peaks up to the seventh order are observed at grazing angles up to 20mrad20\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mrad}20mrad. With changes in de Broglie wavelength or grazing angle the relative diffraction intensities show significant variations which shed light on the nature of the atom-surface interaction potential. The observations are explained in terms of quantum reflection at the long-range attractive Casimir--van der Waals potential.
In atom optics a material structure is commonly regarded as an amplitude mask for atom waves. However, atomic diffraction patterns formed using material gratings indicate that material structures also operate as phase masks. In this study a well collimated beam of sodium atoms is used to illuminate a silicon nitride grating with a period of 100 nm. During passage through the grating slots atoms acquire a phase shift due to the van der Waals interaction with the grating walls. As a result the relative intensities of the matter-wave diffraction peaks deviate from those expected for a purely absorbing grating. Thus a complex transmission function is required to explain the observed diffraction envelopes. An optics perspective to the theory of atomic diffraction from material gratings is put forth in the hopes of providing a more intuitive picture concerning the influence of the vdW potential. The van der Waals coefficient C3=2.7±0.8meVnm3C_{3} = 2.7\pm 0.8{meV nm}^{3}C3​=2.7±0.8meVnm3 is determined by fitting a modified Fresnel optical theory to the experimental data. This value of C3C_{3}C3​ is consistent with a van der Waals interaction between atomic sodium and a silicon nitride surface.
In atom optics a material structure is commonly regarded as an amplitude mask for atom waves. However, atomic diffraction patterns formed using material gratings indicate that material structures also operate as phase masks. In this study a well collimated beam of sodium atoms is used to illuminate a silicon nitride grating with a period of 100 nm. During passage through the grating slots atoms acquire a phase shift due to the van der Waals interaction with the grating walls. As a result the relative intensities of the matter-wave diffraction peaks deviate from those expected for a purely absorbing grating. Thus a complex transmission function is required to explain the observed diffraction envelopes. An optics perspective to the theory of atomic diffraction from material gratings is put forth in the hopes of providing a more intuitive picture concerning the influence of the vdW potential. The van der Waals coefficient C3=2.7pm0.8meVnm3C_{3} = 2.7\\pm 0.8{meV nm}^{3}C3​=2.7pm0.8meVnm3 is determined by fitting a modified Fresnel optical theory to the experimental data. This value of C3C_{3}C3​ is consistent with a van der Waals interaction between atomic sodium and a silicon nitride surface.