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

Laser Physics

Recent Progress in Dielectric Cavity QED and Long-Range Atom-Surface Interactions

H. Failache, M.–P. Gorza, Solomon M. Saltiel, M. Fichet, Daniel Bloch, M. Ducloy

Published Jan 1, 2001• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

We explore experimentally various situations when the van der Waals long-range atom-surface interaction is resonantly enhanced, and eventually turned into repulsion, as due to a resonant coupling between a virtual emission of the excited atom, and a virtual absorption of the dielectric into a surface polariton mode.

Related papers

Dielectric Cavity QED: Resonant Coupling in the van der Waals Interaction between Atom and Dielectric surfaces

H. Failache, Solomon M. Saltiel, M. Fichet +3 more

Journal of the Korean Physical Society•Nov 1, 2000•0 citations

Coupling atomic excitation and surface modes in dielectric cavity-QED

H. Failache, A. Fischer, Solomon M. Saltiel +4 more

Summary form only given. The topic of quantum cavity electrodynamics is to describe the coupling between the fluctuations of an atomic system and the vacuum e.m. field, when special boundary conditions are imposed by a cavity to the vacuum field. A realistic description of these boundary conditions is hence of crucial importance. For such a purpose, the unavoidable dispersive spectral properties of any material cavity cannot be ignored when dealing with (temporal) fluctuations. For these reasons, we have embarked on an (experimental) analysis of the resonant long-range coupling between atomic excitation and the surface modes of a cavity (most often restricted to a simple wall, i.e. a flat open cavity). In our present investigations, we are concerned with the exploration of the dissipative counterpart of the resonant atom-surface van der Waals coupling.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Aug 29, 2005•0 citations

Resonant coupling in the van der Waals interaction between an excited alkali atom and a dielectric surface: an experimental study via stepwise selective reflection spectroscopy

H. Failache, Solomon M. Saltiel, M. Fichet +2 more

The European Physical Journal D•May 1, 2003•57 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

Quantum theory of van der Waals interactions between excited atoms and birefringent dielectric surfaces

M.–P. Gorza, Solomon M. Saltiel, H. Failache +1 more

The European Physical Journal D•Jul 1, 2001•28 citations

DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2003-00098-4 THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL D

Resonant coupling in the van der Waals interaction between an excited alkali atom and a dielectric surface: an experimental study via stepwise selective reflection spectroscopy

•Dec 11, 2014•0 citations
Summary form only given. The topic of quantum cavity electrodynamics is to describe the coupling between the fluctuations of an atomic system and the vacuum e.m. field, when special boundary conditions are imposed by a cavity to the vacuum field. A realistic description of these boundary conditions is hence of crucial importance. For such a purpose, the unavoidable dispersive spectral properties of any material cavity cannot be ignored when dealing with (temporal) fluctuations. For these reasons, we have embarked on an (experimental) analysis of the resonant long-range coupling between atomic excitation and the surface modes of a cavity (most often restricted to a simple wall, i.e. a flat open cavity). In our present investigations, we are concerned with the exploration of the dissipative counterpart of the resonant atom-surface van der Waals coupling.
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.