Exploring the van der Waals Atom-Surface attraction in the nanometric range

Michèle Fichet (1) , Gabriel Dutier (1) , Alexander Yarovitski (1, 2) , Petko Todorov (1) , Ismahène Hamdi (1) , Isabelle Maurin (1) , Solomon Saltiel (1) , David Sarkisyan (3) , Marie-Pascale Gorza (1) , Daniel Bloch (1) , Martial Ducloy (1)

1 LPL - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers
2 Branch of Quantum Radio physics, Frequency Standard Laboratory
3 IPR - Institute for Physical Research

The van der Waals atom-surface attraction, scaling as C3 z-3 for z the atom-surface distance, is expected to be valid in the distance range 1-1000 nm, covering 8-10 orders of magnitudes in the interaction energy. A Cs vapour nanocell allows us to analyze the spectroscopic modifications induced by the atom-surface attraction on the 6P3/2->6D5/2 transition. The measured C3 value is found to be independent of the thickness in the explored range 40-130 nm, and is in agreement with an elementary theoretical prediction. We also discuss the specific interest of exploring short distances and large interaction energy.

Mots clés: van der Waals; Atome-surface; nanocell; naometric thickness

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]

Michèle Fichet, Gabriel Dutier, Alexander Yarovitski, Petko Todorov, Ismahène Hamdi, et al.. Exploring the van der Waals Atom-Surface attraction in the nanometric range. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 2007, 77, pp.54001. ⟨10.1209/0295-5075/77/54001⟩. ⟨hal-00069106v3⟩