Freiburg 2019 – scientific programme
Sessions | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
FM: Fall Meeting
FM 57: Quantum Sensing: Spectroscopy I
FM 57.6: Talk
Wednesday, September 25, 2019, 15:30–15:45, 2006
Spectroscopic precision probing of velocity-dependent atom-surface interactions — •Nico Strauß1 and Stefan Yoshi Buhmann1,2 — 1University of Freiburg, Germany — 2Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Germany
The Casimir-Polder force between atoms or molecules and is of quantum mechanical origin and forms the basis of quantum friction, which is predicted to occur when two objects move at distance on the order of nanometers relative to each other. Frequency-selective reflection spectroscopy [1] is a tool for determining atomic transition frequencies and linewidths from a changes in the reflection coefficients of a modulated laser beam incident on the boundary between a dielectric and a gas of moving atoms. It is so sensitive that it has been successfully used to verify surface-induced shifts of the energies of extremely short-lived excited states. Here, we propose to push the limits of the tool a step further by detecting velocity-dependent surface-induced shifts of transmission frequencies and linewidths [2]. We start by laying out the basic theory of such velocity-dependent effects which are intricately related to quantum friction. We then discuss how motion-induced quantum vacuum effects are expected to manifest themselves in the reflection signal.
[1] J. Klatt, R. Bennett and S. Y. Buhmann, Phys. Rev. A 94, 063803 (2016).
[2] M. Ducloy and M. Fichet, J. Phys. II, 1529 (1991).