Berlin 2014 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 30: Poster: Photonics, laser development and applications, ultrashort laser pulses, quantum effects
Q 30.87: Poster
Tuesday, March 18, 2014, 16:30–18:30, Spree-Palais
Dynamical Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and surface plasmons — •Harald R. Haakh1,2, Carsten Henkel2, Salvatore Spagnolo3, Lucia Rizzuto3, and Roberto Passante3 — 1Max Planck Institut für die Physik des Lichts, Erlangen — 2Universität Potsdam — 3Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
We investigate the time-dependent Casimir-Polder potential between a polarizable two-level atom and a surface after a sudden change a system parameter, generalizing previous work1,2 to arbitrary materials.
Similar to the static Casimir-Polder interaction, surface mode excitations play a central role in the interaction3.
For an initially bare ground-state atom, the time-dependent Casimir-Polder
energy reveals how the atom is “being dressed” by virtual photons and surface plasmons. A second scenario considers the dynamics after an externally induced
change in the atomic level structure or transition dipoles.
We analyze in particular how the time evolution of the interaction energy
depends on the optical properties of the surface, in particular on the dispersion relation
of surface plasmon polaritons and discuss the mechanism behind the equilibration4.
1 Vasile, Passante, Phys. Rev. A 78, 032108 (2008).
2 Messina, Vasile, Passante, Phys. Rev. A 82, 062501 (2010).
3 Wylie, Sipe, Phys. Rev. A, 30, 1185 (1984).
4 Haakh, Henkel, Spagnolo, Rizzuto, Passante, arXiv:1312.2407