Measurement of the atom-surface van der Waals interaction by transmission spectroscopy in a wedged nanocell

Peyrot, T.; Šibalić, N.; Sortais, Y.R.P.; Browaeys, A.; Sargsyan, A.; Sarkisyan, D.; Hughes, I.G.; Adams, C.S.

Abstract

We demonstrate a method for measuring atom-surface interactions using transmission spectroscopy of thermal vapors confined in a wedged nanocell. The wedged shape of the cell allows complementary measurements of both the bulk atomic vapor and atoms close to surfaces experiencing strong van der Waals atom-surface interaction. These are used to tightly constrain the dipole-dipole collisional parameters of a theoretical model for transmission spectra that accounts for atom-surface interactions, cavity effects, collisions with the surface of the cell, and atomic motion. We illustrate this method on a cesium vapor in a sapphire cell, demonstrating that even the weakest of the van der Waals atom-surface interaction coefficients—for ground-state alkali atom transitions—can be determined with a very good precision. This result paves the way towards a precise quantitative characterization of atom-surface interactions in a wide range of atom-based nanodevices.

Citation

Peyrot, T., Šibalić, N., Sortais, Y., Browaeys, A., Sargsyan, A., Sarkisyan, D., Hughes, I., & Adams, C. (2019). Measurement of the atom-surface van der Waals interaction by transmission spectroscopy in a wedged nanocell. Physical Review A, 100(2), Article 022503. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.100.022503

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Aug 1, 2019
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2019
• Deposit Date: Aug 8, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 8, 2019
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9934
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 100
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 022503
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.100.022503
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1325812