| Autor: |
Whittaker, K. A., Keaveney, J., Hughes, I. G., Sargsyan, A., Sarkisyan, D., Adams, C. S. |
| Rok vydání: |
2014 |
| Předmět: |
|
| Druh dokumentu: |
Working Paper |
| DOI: |
10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.253201 |
| Popis: |
We present experimental observations of atom-light interactions within tens of nanometers (down to 11~nm) of a sapphire surface. Using photon counting we detect the fluorescence from of order one thousand Rb or Cs atoms, confined in a vapor with thickness much less than the optical excitation wavelength. The asymmetry in the spectral lineshape provides a direct read-out of the atom-surface potential. A numerical fit indicates a power-law $-C_{\alpha}/r^{\alpha}$ with $\alpha=3.02\pm0.06$ confirming that the van der Waals interaction dominates over other effects. The extreme sensitivity of our photon-counting technique may allow the search for atom-surface bound states. |
| Databáze: |
arXiv |
| Externí odkaz: |
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