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We derive the quantum-mechanical master equation (generalized optical Bloch equation) for an atom in the vicinity of a flat dielectric surface. This equation gives access to the semiclassical radiation pressure force and the atomic momentum diffusion tensor, that are expressed in terms of the vacuum field correlation function (electromagnetic field susceptibility). It is demonstrated that the atomic center-of-mass motion provides a nonlocal probe of the electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations. We show in particular that in a circularly polarized evanescent wave, the radiation pressure force experienced by the atoms is not colinear with the evanescent wave's propagation vector. In a linearly polarized evanescent wave, the recoil per fluorescence cycle leads to a net magnetization for a Jg = 1/2 ground state atom.
We present an analytical approach to the calculation of the linewidth and lineshift of an atom or molecule in the near field of a structured dielectric surface. For soft surface corrugations with amplitude lambda/50, we find variations of the linewidth in the ten percent region. More strikingly, the shift of the molecular resonance can reach several natural linewidths. We demonstrate that the lateral resolution is of the order of the molecule-surface distance. We give a semiquantitative explanation of the outcome of our calculations that is based on simple intuitive models.
New physics with evanescent wave atomic mirrors : the van der Waals force and atomic diffraction
(1998)
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.
We study the electromagnetic coupling and concomitant heating of a particle in a miniaturized trap close to a solid surface. Two dominant heating mechanisms are identified: proximity fields generated by thermally exicted currents in the absorbing solid and timedependent image potentials due to elastic surfaces distortions (Rayleigh phonons. Estimates for the lifetime of the trap ground state are given. Ions are paricularly sinsitive to electric proximity fields: for a silver substrate, we find a lifetime below one second at distrances closer than some ten 10^-6m to the surfaces. Neutral atoms may approach the surface more closely: if they have a magnetic moment, a minimum distance of one 10^-6m is estimatied in tight traps, the heat being transferred via magnetic proximity fields. For spinless atoms, heat is transferred by inelastic scattering of virtual photons off sorface phonons. The corresponding lifetime, however, is estimated to be extremely long compared to the timescale of typical experiments.
We derive the time and loss rate for a trapped atom that is coupled to fluctuating fields in the vicinity of a room-temperature metallic and/or dielectric surface. Our results indicate a clear predominance of near-field effects over ordinary blackbody radiation. We develop a theoretical framework for both charged ions and neutral atoms with and without spin. Loss processes that are due to a transition to an untrapped internal state are included.
We discuss heating and decoherencw in traps fpr ions and neutral paricles close to metallic surfaces. We focus on simple trap geometries and compute noise spectra of thermally excited electromagnetic fields. If the trap is located in the near field of the substrate, the field fluctuations are largely increased compared to the level of the blackbody field, leading to much shorter coherence and life times of the trapped atoms. The correspinding time constants are computed for ion traps and magnetic traps. Analytical estimates for the size dependence of the noise spectrum are given. We finally discuss prospects for the coherent transport of matter waves in integrated surface waveguides.
We analyze the spatial coherence of the electromagnetic field emitted by a half-space at temperature T close to the interface. An asymptotic analysis allows to identify three different contributions to the cross-spectral density tensor in the near-field regime. It is shown that the coherence length can be either much larger or much shorter than the wavelength depending on the dominant contribution.