Exploring the van der Waals Atom-Surface attraction in the nanometric range
Résumé
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. Thanks to a Cs vapor nanocell we analyze the spectroscopic modifications induced by the atom-surface attraction on the 6P3/2->6D5/2 transition. The 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 discuss the specific interest of exploring short distances and large interaction energy.