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Optics Express

Enhancement of long-distance Casimir-Polder interaction between an excited atom and a cavity made of metamaterials

Wei Fang, Gao‐xiang Li, Jingping Xu, Yaping Yang

Published Dec 12, 2019• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Within the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics, we investigate both the radiation force and the potential of Casimir-Polder type acting on an excited cold two-level atom in a cavity made of left-handed materials and topological insulators. As the time-reversal symmetry is broken on the surface of the topological insulators, the spontaneous emission of the atom placed near the focus point(s) exhibits anisotropic properties. While the potential wells are normally shallow for topological trivial dielectric, they may be amplified in the presence of topological magnetoelectric effect. We find that when there exists only one focus point in the cavity, it is possible to boost the forces or the potential wells by up to one order of magnitude. Meanwhile, the lifetime of the atom could be prolonged owing to the focus effect of the left-handed materials, where the emitted photons can trace back to the atom and reabsorbed by itself. Our results indicate the possibility in forming long-lived potential wells, which may have potential applications in trapping and guiding cold atoms far away from the surface.

DOI
10.1364/oe.27.037753

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Casimir-Polder forces on atoms in the presence of magnetoelectric bodies = Casimir-Polder-Krafte auf Atome bei Anwesenheit magnetoeletrischer Korper

rer. nat. Buhmann, Stefan Yoshi

The Casimir-Polder force on a single atom in the presence of microscopic magneto-electric bodies is studied within the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics. In the first part, time-independent perturbation theory is used show that the static Casimir-Polder force on a ground-state atom in the presence of an arbitrary arrangement of bodies can be expressed in terms of the atom's polarisability and the scattering part of the Green tensor characterising the bodies. This result is used to verify the origin of the force and to study various bodies of simple shapes. In the second part, a genuinely dynamical approach is developed by starting from the operator Lorentz force. It is found that the dynamics of the force on initially excited atoms is governed by irreversible spontaneous decay in the case of weak atom-field coupling, while Rabi oscillations may arise for strong atom-field coupling.

•Jul 6, 2007•0 citations
Within the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics, we investigate both the radiation force and the potential of Casimir-Polder type acting on an excited cold two-level atom in a cavity made of left-handed materials and topological insulators. As the time-reversal symmetry is broken on the surface of the topological insulators, the spontaneous emission of the atom placed near the focus point(s) exhibits anisotropic properties. While the potential wells are normally shallow for topological trivial dielectric, they may be amplified in the presence of topological magnetoelectric effect. We find that when there exists only one focus point in the cavity, it is possible to boost the forces or the potential wells by up to one order of magnitude. Meanwhile, the lifetime of the atom could be prolonged owing to the focus effect of the left-handed materials, where the emitted photons can trace back to the atom and reabsorbed by itself. Our results indicate the possibility in forming long-lived potential wells, which may have potential applications in trapping and guiding cold atoms far away from the surface.
Within the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics, the resonant van der Waals potential experienced by an excited two-level atom near a planar magnetoelectric two-layer system consisting of a slab of left-handed material and a perfect mirror is studied. It is shown that the disregard of material absorption leads to unphysical results, with divergent values for the potential away from the surface. Under appropriate conditions, the setup is found to feature a barrier near the surface which can be employed to levitate particles or used as a trapping or cooling mechanism. Finally, the problem of spontaneous decay [K\"astel and Fleischhauer, Phys. Rev. A 68, 011804(R) (2005)] is reconsidered. Disregard of absorption is shown to drastically falsify the dependence on the atomic position of the decay rate.
We analyze the thermal Casimir-Polder potential experienced by a ground-state molecule in a planar cavity and investigate the prospects for using such a setup for molecular guiding. The resonant atom-field interaction associated with this nonequilibrium situation manifests itself in oscillating standing-wave components of the potential. While the respective potential wells are normally too shallow to be useful, they may be amplified by a highly reflecting cavity whose width equals a half-integer multiple of a particular molecular transition frequency. We find that with an ideal choice of molecule and the use of a cavity bounded by Bragg mirrors of ultrahigh reflectivity, it may be possible to boost the potential by up to two orders of magnitude. We analytically derive the scaling of the potential depth as a function of reflectivity and analyze how it varies with temperature and molecular properties. It is also shown how the potential depth decreases for standing waves with a larger number of nodes. Finally, we investigate the lifetime of the molecular ground state in a thermal environment and find that it is not greatly influenced by the cavity and remains in the order of several seconds.
Influence of the Casimir-Polder force on a slowly moving atom near a left-handed slab is discussed. We focus on an initially excited atom and its dynamic evolution during the spontaneous decay process. The left-haned slab is adopted based on two factors: (1) It provides a relatively stronger Casimir-Polder force on the excited atom far away from the interface, and (2) it can lead to an inhibited spontaneous decay rate within such a region. Therefore, we can discuss the dynamic evolution of atoms acted only by the Casimir-Polder force. The dynamic evolution discussed here includes both the evolution of atomic population and the atomic displacement. As the Casimir-Polder force depends on the atomic population, while the decay rate is related to the atomic positions, the atomic dynamic evolution is determined by its initial conditions, i.e. its position and volecity. We choose two initial positions for discussion, i.e. (1) the position with the maximum resonant Casimir-Polder force, and (2) the edge of the resonant Casimir-Polder force of the atom with dipole parallel to the interface. Furthermore, we also consider two kinds of orientations of atomic dipole, i. e. parallel and normal to the interface. It is found that the atom can be repulsed away from a surface by the Casimir-Polder force with a proper initial velocity in certain dipole orientaion during the sponatneous decay process. As the atomic dynamics depends on the orientation of the atom dipole momentum, our result can be used as a reference to distinguish atoms with different dipole momenta. Though the force discussed here exists during the spontaneous decay process, it is much different from the recoil force of the atom when it emits a photon during the spontaneous decay. The statistical average of the recoil force is null, but that of the resonant Casimir-Polder force is not. After reasonable estimation, such a Casimir-Polder force can counteract the thermal fluctuation of temperature of 15 μupK during sponatneous decay. If combined with other constraint methods, it is helpful to control the dynamics of an atom more efficiently.
Influence of the Casimir-Polder force on a slowly moving atom near a left-handed slab is discussed.We focus on an initially excited atom and its dynamic evolution during the spontaneous decay process.The left-haned slab is adopted based on two factors:(1) It provides a relatively stronger Casimir-Polder force on the excited atom far away from the interface,and(2) it can lead to an inhibited spontaneous decay rate within such a region.Therefore,we can discuss the dynamic evolution of atoms acted only by the Casimir-Polder force.The dynamic evolution discussed here includes both the evolution of atomic population and the atomic displacement.As the Casimir-Polder force depends on the atomic population,while the decay rate is related to the atomic positions,the atomic dynamic evolution is determined by its initial conditions,i.e.its position and volecity.We choose two initial positions for discussion,i.e.(1) the position with the maximum resonant Casimir-Polder force,and(2) the edge of the resonant Casimir-Polder force of the atom with dipole parallel to the interface.Furthermore,we also consider two kinds of orientations of atomic dipole,i.e.parallel and normal to the interface.It is found that the atom can be repulsed away from a surface by the Casimir-Polder force with a proper initial velocity in certain dipole orientaion during the sponatneous decay process.As the atomic dynamics depends on the orientation of the atom dipole momentum,our result can be used as a reference to distinguish atoms with different dipole momenta.Though the force discussed here exists during the spontaneous decay process,it is much different from the recoil force of the atom when it emits a photon during the spontaneous decay.The statistical average of the recoil force is null,but that of the resonant Casimir-Polder force is not.After reasonable estimation,such a Casimir-Polder force can counteract the thermal fluctuation of temperature of 15 μK during sponatneous decay.If combined with other constraint methods,it is helpful to control the dynamics of an atom more efficiently.
The Casimir-Polder (CP) force acting on a V\mathsf{V}V-type three-level atom which is initially prepared in two different kinds of superposition states, i.e., subradiant and superradiant states, is investigated. The influence of quantum interference on force evolution due to two-dipole transitions is analyzed in detail. It is found that the orientation of the atomic dipole moment has significant influence on the Casimir-Polder force and consequently its evolution. For the ideal degenerate V\mathsf{V}V-type atom with two parallel dipoles, quantum interference leads to population trapping as well as the cancellation of the CP force when the atom is prepared initially in a subradiant state. However, the result changes when we consider the practical Zeeman V\mathsf{V}V-type atom whose two dipole moments are perpendicular to each other. Since quantum interference in such an atom must occur in an anisotropic environment, it is possible to trap atomic population and enhance the CP force simultaneously by preparing the atom initially in sub-radiant states. In principle, our results can be found in an arbitrary anisotropic environment, and here we describe a structure containing left-handed materials to highlight our findings.
The Casimir-Polder force on a single atom in the presence of microscopic magneto-electric bodies is studied within the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics. In the first part, time-independent perturbation theory is used show that the static Casimir-Polder force on a ground-state atom in the presence of an arbitrary arrangement of bodies can be expressed in terms of the atom's polarisability and the scattering part of the Green tensor characterising the bodies. This result is used to verify the origin of the force and to study various bodies of simple shapes. In the second part, a genuinely dynamical approach is developed by starting from the operator Lorentz force. It is found that the dynamics of the force on initially excited atoms is governed by irreversible spontaneous decay in the case of weak atom-field coupling, while Rabi oscillations may arise for strong atom-field coupling.