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Physica Scripta

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

Nathalie Westbrook, Christoph Ira Westbrook, Arnaud Landragin, G. Labeyrie, Laurent Cognet, V. Savalli, G. Horváth, Alain Aspect, Catherine Lin Hendel, Klaus Mølmer, J.-Y. Courtois, William D. Phillips, Robin Kaiser, Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato

Published Jan 1, 1998• 28 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1238/physica.topical.078a00007

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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.
A research project at the “Laboratoire d’électronique quantique” consists in a theoretical study of the reflection and diffraction phenomena via an atomic mirror. This poster presents the principle of an atomic mirror. Many groups in the world have constructed this type of atom optics experiments such as in Paris‐Orsay‐Villetaneuse (France), Stanford‐Gaithersburg (USA), Munich‐Heidelberg (Germany), etc. A laser beam goes into a prism with an incidence bigger than the critical incidence. It undergoes a total reflection on the plane face of the prism and then exits. The transmitted resulting wave out of the prism is evanescent and repulsive as the frequency detuning of the laser beam compared to the atomic transition δ = ωL−ω0 is positive. The cold atomic sample interacts with this evanescent wave and undergoes one or more elastic bounces by passing into backward points in its trajectory because the atoms’ kinetic energy (of the order of the μeV) is less than the maximum of the dipolar potential barrier ℏΩ2/Δ where Ω is the Rabi frequency [1]. In fact, the atoms are cooled and captured in a magneto‐optical trap placed at a distance of the order of the cm above the prism surface. The dipolar potential with which interact the slow atoms is obtained for a two level atom in a case of a dipolar electric transition (D2 Rubidium transition at a wavelength of 780nm delivered by a Titane‐Saphir laser between a fundamental state Jf = l/2 and an excited state Je = 3/2). This potential is corrected by an attractive Van der Waals term which varies as 1/z3 in the Lennard‐Jones approximation (typical atomic distance of the order of λ0/2π where λ0 is the laser wavelength) and in 1/z4 if the distance between the atom and its image in the dielectric is big in front of λ0/2π. This last case is obtained in a quantum electrodynamic calculation by taking into account an orthornormal base [2]. We’ll examine the role of spontaneous emission for which the rate is inversely proportional to the detuning δ and is responsible of the non specular aspect of the atomic reflection (atomic diffusion). In the contrary, we note that the specularity of the reflection preserve the coherence of the atomic wave packet. The atoms will constitute a probe of the rugosity of the prism surface which can be imperfect or super‐polished.
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.
Atom-surface interactions are becoming an integral part of the field of atom optics. Here the role of van der Waals atom-surface interactions in atom wave diffraction and interferometry are investigated. In particular, it is shown that van der Waals interactions influence the intensity and phase of atomic diffraction patterns obtained from material gratings. As a result the atomic diffraction patterns are utilized to make an accurate determination of the interaction strength and verify the spatial variation of the atom-surface potential. A theory for describing the modified atom wave diffraction patterns is developed through an analogy with optical waves. An atom interferometer is used to directly measure the de Broglie wave phase shift induced by atom-surface interactions. More specifically, the phases of the zeroth, first, and second diffraction orders are measured. A proposal for using electromagnetic fields to modify the van der Waals interaction is put forth. Several of the important experimental components for observing such an effect are also demonstrated.
We analyze the possibilities of approaching atom-surface interactions through their contribution to the atomic matter de Broglie wave phase, in an interferometer based on an evanescent light atomic mirror. The surface interactions produce an additional phase shift that is evaluated to a few times \ensuremath{\pi} for a neon atom in a metastable state. We propose and investigate an experimental procedure that uses the principles of polarization (for instance, Stern-Gerlach) interferometers in order to monitor these long-range interactions (van der Waals, Casimir-Polder, etc.) between a ground-state or metastable-state atom and either a metallic or a dielectric surface. Our approach gives access to the differential phase shift between Zeeman sublevels, and should then be sensitive to an eventual anisotropy of the atom-surface interaction.