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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Spectroscopy of the atom-wall interactions in a nanocell

V. V. Khromov, A. E. Logunov, Anatoly S. Pazgalev, Sergey G. Przhibel'skii, David G. Sarkisyan, T. A. Vartanyan

Published Dec 6, 2012• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The optical spectroscopy of rubidium atoms confined to a nanocell was employed to study the quenching and energy transfer processes in the course of atom-wall collisions. The distance between the sapphire windows of the cell varies between 150 and 500 nm forming a vapour wedge. At moderate pressures, the frequency of the atom-wall collisions greatly exceeds the frequency of atom-atom collisions. Hence, the line shapes and intensities recorded in a nanocell provide valuable information about interactions of excited atoms with the surface of the window material.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/397/1/012063

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The optical spectroscopy of rubidium atoms confined to a nanocell was employed to study the quenching and energy transfer processes in the course of atom-wall collisions. The distance between the sapphire windows of the cell varies between 150 and 500 nm forming a vapour wedge. At moderate pressures, the frequency of the atom-wall collisions greatly exceeds the frequency of atom-atom collisions. Hence, the line shapes and intensities recorded in a nanocell provide valuable information about interactions of excited atoms with the surface of the window material.
Since the recent realization of extremely thin vapour cells (local thickness: 20-1000 nm), we investigate the optical properties of these 1-D confined vapours. Aside from their interest for Doppler-free spectroscopy, nanocells offer a new tool to evaluate collisional shift and broadening, yielding an access to the open problem of collisions under confinement. It also allows probing of the atom-surface interaction in a range of unusual short distances. The experimental exploration of the distance dependence, normally evolving according to the z −3 van der Waals (vW) dependence ( z : the atom-surface distance), is worth doing because it could be affected by imperfections of the real surface, such as roughness, adsorbed impurities or charges. A detailed lineshape analysis is now under progress, with tight constraints imposed to the fitting by the twin information brought by simultaneous reflection and transmission spectra. Another issue is a possible resonant enhancement, susceptible to induce a repulsive vW, due to the coupling between atom excitation and a surface mode.
We demonstrate a method for measuring atom-surface interactions using transmission spectroscopy of thermal vapors confined in a wedged nanocell. The wedged shape of the cell allows complementary measurements of both the bulk atomic vapor and atoms close to surfaces experiencing strong van der Waals atom-surface interaction. These are used to tightly constrain the dipole-dipole collisional parameters of a theoretical model for transmission spectra that accounts for atom-surface interactions, cavity effects, collisions with the surface of the cell, and atomic motion. We illustrate this method on a cesium vapor in a sapphire cell, demonstrating that even the weakest of the van der Waals atom-surface interaction coefficients---for ground-state alkali atom transitions---can be determined with a very good precision. This result paves the way towards a precise quantitative characterization of atom-surface interactions in a wide range of atom-based nanodevices.
The effect of the dielectric surface on the 39K D1 line (Fg = 1, 2 → Fe = 1, 2 transitions) at nanometer distances has been experimentally studied for the first time. A nanocell that is filled with atomic potassium and has a wedge gap has been used to study the effect of atoms at distances of 50–800 nm from the technical sapphire window surface. At distances L < 100 nm from the sapphire surface, the van der Waals interaction strongly broadens atomic transitions and their frequencies are redshifted. The second derivative method applied to the absorption spectra of the nanocell has allowed the first measurement of the van der Waals interaction coefficient C3 = (1.2 ± 0.3) kHz μm3 for the 39K D1 line. It has been shown that the dipole–dipole interaction between 39K atoms results in the additional redshift at an increase in the density of atoms for the nanocell thickness L < 70 nm. The results obtained are important for the development of submicron devices containing free atoms.
Ultra-narrow cells with the thicknesses in the range from several wavelengths to the small fractions of the wavelength brought a number of new opportunities for atomic spectroscopy. Depending on the cell thickness, spectral lines recorded in ultra-narrow cells are either Doppler-free or Doppler-broadened. With careful selection of the cell thickness hyperfine structure may be easily resolved without resorting on the multibeam nonlinear optical techniques. Moreover, frequent collisions with the walls leads to the important modifications of velocity selective optical pumping resonances. Finally, ultra-narrow cells provide with the unique opportunity to study collisions of the excited atoms with the solid surfaces. In this contribution several examples of the use of the ultra-narrow spectroscopic cells filled with the alkali atomic vapour is presented. First, we discuss general aspects of the transient polarisation that defines all peculiarities of an ultra-narrow cell as a spectroscopic tool. Second, we demonstrate the resolution of the magnetic sublevels in the transition from Zeeman to Paschen-Back regime in the Cs hyperfine structure. Third, new aspects of velocity selective optical pumping resonances in reflection and transmission of resonant radiation by the 6 wavelengths thick cell filled with Cs are discussed. Forth, the experimental evidences of the nonadiabatic transitions between excited states of Rb atoms in the course of collisions with the sapphire surface are presented.
The high sensitivity of Laser Spectroscopy has made possible the exploration of atomic resonances in newly designed "nanometric" gas cells, whose local thickness varies from 20nm to more than 1000 nm. Following the initial observation of the optical analogous of the coherent Dicke microwave narrowing, the newest prospects include the exploration of long-range atom surface van der Waals interaction with spatial resolution in an unprecedented range of distances, modification of atom dielectric resonant coupling under the influence of the coupling between the two neighbouring dielectric media, and even the possible modification of interatomic collisions processes under the effect of confinement.