Abstract
We report on the analysis of FM selective reflection experiments on the 6S 1/2 → 8P 3/2 transition of Cs at 388 nm, and on the measurement of the surface van der Waals interaction exerted by a sapphire interface on Cs(8P 3/2). Various improvements in the systematic fitting of the experiments have permitted us to supersede the major difficulty of a severe overlap of the hyperfine components, originating, on the one hand, in a relatively small natural structure, and, on the other hand, on a large pressure broadening imposed by the high atomic density needed for the observation of selective reflection on a weak transition. The strength of the van der Waals surface interaction is evaluated to be 73 ± 10 kHz µm3. An evaluation of the pressure shift of the transition is also provided as a by-product of the measurement. Finally, we discuss the significance of an apparent disagreement between the experimental measurement of the surface interaction, and the theoretical value calculated for an electromagnetic vacuum at a null temperature. The possible influence of the thermal excitation of the surface is evoked, because the dominant contributions to the van der Waals interaction for Cs(8P 3/2) lie in the far-infrared range.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
D. Bloch and M. Ducloy, “Atom-Wall Interaction,” in Advances in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, by B. Bederson and H. Walther (Elsevier, San Diego, 2005), Vol. 50, pp. 91–156.
U. Mohideen and A. Roy, “Precision Measurement of the Casimir Force from 0.1 to 0.9 µm,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4549–4552 (1998); F. Chen, G. Klimchitskaya, U. Mohideen, and V. M. Mostepanenko, “Theory Confronts Experiment in the Casimir Force Measurements: Quantification of Errors and Precision,” Phys Rev. A 69, 022117 (2004); K. A. Milton, “The Casimir Effect: Reverse Controversies and Progress,” J. Phys. A 37, R209–R277 (2004).
V. Sandoghdar, C.I. Sukenik, E.A. Hinds, S. Haroche, “Direct Measurement of the van der Waals Interaction between an Atom and Its Images in a Micron-Sized Cavity,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 3432–3435 (1992).
A. Landragin, J.-Y. Courtois, G. Labeyrie, et al., “Measurement of the van der Waals Force in an Atomic Mirror,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1464–1467 (1996); R. E. Grisenti, W. Schöllkopf, J. P. Toennies, et al., “Determination of Atom-Surface van der Waals Potentials from Transmission-Grating Diffraction Intensities,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 1755–1758 (1999); R. Brühl, P. Fouquet, R. E. Grisenti, et al., “The van der Waals Potential between Metastable Atoms and Solid Surfaces: Novel Diffraction Experiments Versus Theory,” Europhys. Lett. 59, 357–363 (2002); M. Boustimi, B. Viaris de Lesegno, J. Baudon, et al., “Atom Symmetry Break and Metastable Level Coupling in Rare Gas Atom Surface van der Waals Interaction,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2766–2769 (2001); F. Shimizu, “Specular Reflection of Very Slow Metastable Neon Atoms from a Solid Surface,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 987–990 (2001); A. K. Mohapatra and C. S. Unnikrishnan, “Measurement of the van der Waals Force Using Reflection of Cold Atoms from Magnetic Thin-Film Atom Mirrors,” Europhys. Lett. 73, 839–845 (2006).
M. Fichet, G. Dutier, A. Yarovitsky, et al., “Exploring the van der Waals Atom-Surface Attraction in the Nanometric Range,” Europhys. Lett. 77, 540001 (2007).
M. Chevrollier, M. Fichet, M. Oria, et al., “High Resolution Selective Reflection Spectroscopy as a Probe of Long-Range Surface Interaction: Measurement of the Surface van der Waals Attraction Exerted on Excited Cs Atoms,” J. Phys. II (France) 2, 631–657 (1992).
M. Chevrollier, D. Bloch, G. Rahmat, et al., “Van der Waals Induced Spectral Distortions in Selective Reflection Spectroscopy of Cs Vapor: The Strong Atom-Surface Interaction Regime,” Opt. Lett. 16, 1879–1881 (1991).
H. Failache, S. Saltiel, M. Fichet, et al., “Resonant Coupling in the van der Waals Interaction between an Excited Alkali Atom and a Dielectric Surface: An Experimental Study via Stepwise Selective Reflection Spectroscopy,” Eur. Phys. J. D 23, 237–255 (2003).
M.-P. Gorza and M. Ducloy, “Van der Waals Interactions between Atoms and Dispersive Surfaces at Finite Temperature,” Eur. Phys. J. D 40, 343–356 (2006).
I. Hamdi, M.-P. Gorza, P. Segundo, et al., “Investigation of the Nonzero Temperature Effects in Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics,” J. Phys. IV 119, 187–188 (2004).
A. D. McLachlan, “Retarded Dispersion Forces in Dielectrics at Finite Temperature,” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 274, 80–90 (1963); G. Barton, “Van der Waals Shifts in an Atom Near Absorptive Dielectric Mirrors,” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 453, 2461–2493 (1997).
M. O. Scully, M. S. Zubairy, G. S. Agarwal, and H. Walther, “Extracting Work from a Single Heat Bath via Vanishing Quantum Coherence,” Science 299, 862–864 (2003); J. M. Obrecht, R. J. Wild, M. Antezza, et al., “Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 063201 (2007).
M. Oria, M. Chevroller, D. Bloch, et al., “Spectral Observation of Surface-Induced van der Waals Attraction on Atomic Vapor,” Europhys. Lett. 14, 527–532 (1991).
N. Papageorgiou, M. Fichet, V. A. Sautenkov, et al., “Doppler-Free Reflection Spectroscopy of Self-Induced and Krypton-Induced Collisional Shift and Broadening of Cesium D 2 Line Components in Optically Dense Vapor,” Laser Phys. 4, 392–395 (1994).
M. Gorris-Neveux, P. Monnot, M. Fichet, et al., “Doppler-Free Reflection Spectroscopy of Rubidium D 1 Line in Optically Dense Vapour,” Opt. Commun. 134, 85–90 (1997).
A. M. Akul’shin, V. L. Velichanskii, A. S. Zibrov, et al., “Collisional Broadening on Intra-Doppler Resonances of Selective Reflection on the D 2 Line of Cesium,” JETP Lett. 36, 303–307 (1982).
G. Pichler, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf. 165, 147–151 (1976); E. Fermi, Z. Phys. 59, 680–686 (1929); S. Sabursky, Z. Phys. 49, 731–739 (1928); J. M. Raimond, M. Gross, C. Fabre, et al., “Laser Measurement of Intensity Ratio Anomalies in Principal Series Doublets of Cesium Rydberg States: Does the D1 Line Vanish?” J. Phys. B Lett. 11, 765–771 (1978).
D. G. Sarkisyan, V. Krupkin, B. Glushko, “Wide-Band-width Adjustable Q Switch Based on Rubidium Dimers,” Appl. Opt. 33, 5518–5521 (1994).
N. Papageorgiou, D. Bloch, M. Ducloy, et al., “Etude de l’Anisotropie (Birefringence) Induite par les Interactions de Surface,” Ann. Phys. (France) 20, 611–612 (1995); N. Papageorgiou, PhD Thesis (Univ. Paris13, 1994) (unpublished).
M. Ducloy and M. Fichet, “General Theory of Frequency Modulated Selective Reflection, Influence of Atom Surface Interactions,” J. Phys. II France 1, 1429–1446 (1991).
P. Chaves de Souza Segundo, PhD Thesis, UFPb (João Pessoa, Brazil, 2005) (unpublished).
S. Saltiel, D. Bloch, and M. Ducloy, “A Tabulation and Critical Analysis of the Wavelength-Dependent Dielectric Image Coefficient for the Interaction Exerted by a Surface onto a Neighbouring Excited Atom,” Opt. Commun. 265, 220–233 (2006).
K. S. Lai and E. A. Hinds, “Blackbody Excitation of an Atom Controlled by a Tunable Cavity,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2671–2674 (1998).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Original Text © Astro, Ltd., 2007.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chaves de Souza Segundo, P., Hamdi, I., Fichet, M. et al. Selective reflection spectroscopy on the UV third-resonance line of Cs: Simultaneous probing of a van der Waals atom-surface interaction sensitive to far IR couplings and interatomic collisions. Laser Phys. 17, 983–992 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1054660X07070134
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1054660X07070134