Anisotropic atom-surface interactions in the Casimir-Polder regime

• Main Authors: Taillandier-Loize, T., Baudon, J., Dutier, G., Perales, F., Boustimi, M., Ducloy, M.
• Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Chemistry
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101752; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19757
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The distance dependence of the anisotropic atom-wall interaction is studied. The central result is the 1/z 6 quadrupolar anisotropy decay in the retarded Casimir-Polder regime. Analysis of the transition region between nonretarded van der Waals regime (in 1/z 3 ) and Casimir-Polder regime shows that the anisotropy crossover occurs at very short distances from the surface, on the order of 0.03λ , where λ is the atom characteristic wavelength. Possible experimental verifications of this distance dependence using surface-induced inelastic transitions are discussed.