Dynamical Casimir-Polder force between an atom and a conducting wall

Vasile, Ruggero; Passante, Roberto

doi:10.1103/physreva.78.032108

Cited by 35 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Phenomena closely related to the Unruh effect are the dynamical Casimir effect, that is the emission of electromagnetic radiation from a single accelerated mirror in the vacuum [16,17] and the dynamical Casimir-Polder interactions, which originate from a nonadiabatic change of some physical parameter of the system (such as the atomic transition frequency, or the dielectric properties of a physical boundary) [18][19][20]. Both the Unruh effect and the dynamical Casimir and Casimir-Polder effects stress the nontrivial nature of the quantum vacuum, underlining its intrinsic dynamical structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resonance interaction energy between two accelerated identical atoms in a coaccelerated frame and the Unruh effect

2016

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We investigate the resonance interaction energy between two uniformly accelerated identical atoms, interacting with the scalar field or the electromagnetic field in the vacuum state, in the reference frame coaccelerating with the atoms. We assume that one atom is excited and the other in the ground state, and that they are prepared in their correlated symmetric or antisymmetric state. Using perturbation theory, we separate, at the second order in the atom-field coupling, the contributions of vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction field to the energy shift of the interacting system. We show that only the radiation reaction term contributes to the resonance interaction between the two atoms, while Unruh thermal fluctuations, related to the vacuum fluctuations contribution, do not affect the resonance interatomic interaction. We also show that the resonance interaction between two uniformly accelerated atoms, recently investigated in the comoving (locally inertial) frame, can be recovered in the coaccelerated frame, without the additional assumption of the Fulling-Davies-Unruh temperature for the quantum fields (as necessary for the Lamb shift, for example). This indicates, in the case considered, the equivalence between the coaccelerated frame and the locally inertial frame.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resonance interaction energy between two accelerated identical atoms in a coaccelerated frame and the Unruh effect

2016

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“…Following the procedure already used in previous works [24,25], the equation of motion for a general atomic or field operator A is calculated from the Heisenberg equations. This leads to a series expansion A(t) = n A (n) (t), where n indicates the power of the coupling constant.…”

Section: Dynamic Dressing Of An Initially Bare Atommentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the mechanical movement of the wall may be replaced by a suitable modulation of the optical properties of one of the surfaces [16][17][18] or of the optical path length of a cavity [19]. Analogous effects have been recently observed in the context of superconducting circuits [20] and in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates [21].The microscopic counterpart of the dynamic Casimir effect is the dynamic Casimir-Polder effect [22][23][24][25]. Recent work has studied the dynamic Casimir-Polder forces between an atom and a perfectly reflecting plate [23][24][25].…”

mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The microscopic counterpart of the dynamic Casimir effect is the dynamic Casimir-Polder effect [22][23][24][25]. Recent work has studied the dynamic Casimir-Polder forces between an atom and a perfectly reflecting plate [23][24][25].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such a situation can occur when a parameter involved in the atom-field coupling (such as the atomic transition frequency or the atom-plate distance) is suddenly modified [24,25]; in this case a time dependence of the force is expected. We shall consider two different initial conditions for the system: an initially bare atom, and a partially dressed one [33,34].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Dynamical Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and surface plasmons

et al. 2014

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We investigate the time-dependent Casimir-Polder potential of a polarizable two-level atom placed near a surface of arbitrary material, after a sudden change in the parameters of the system. Different initial conditions are taken into account. For an initially bare ground-state atom, the time-dependent Casimir-Polder energy reveals how the atom is "being dressed" by virtual, matter-assisted photons. We also study the transient behavior of the Casimir-Polder interaction between the atom and the surface starting from a partially dressed state, after an externally induced change in the atomic level structure or transition dipoles. The Heisenberg equations are solved through an iterative technique for both atomic and field operators in the medium-assisted electromagnetic field quantization scheme. 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. The physical significance and the limits of validity of the obtained results are discussed in detail.PACS numbers: 34.35.+a -interactions of atoms with surfaces; 42.50.Nn -quantum optical phenomena in conducting media; 73.20.Mf -surface plasmons A striking feature of the quantum nature of the electromagnetic field is the existence of a vacuum energy and of zero-point fluctuations. Field fluctuations have observable effects such as the Lamb shift, spontaneous emission, Casimir-Polder forces, and the Casimir effect [1][2][3][4]. In particular, Casimir-Polder forces are long-range electromagnetic interactions between neutral polarizable atoms or molecules (van der Waals interaction), or between an atom and a macroscopic object, that arise from the zero-point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field and matter [5][6][7]. Their prediction is arguably one of the most important results of quantum electrodynamics. The macroscopic counterpart of the Casimir-Polder forces is the Casimir effect, predicting an attractive force between two parallel uncharged plates [8]. The relation between the Casimir effect and Casimir-Polder forces has been extensively investigated in the literature, highlighting fundamental properties such as the nonadditivity [1, 9] and fluctuations (see Ref.[10] and references therein). Experiments conducted from the second half of the nineties to now, have incontrovertibly shown the reality of these rather counterintuitive effects [3,4,11,12]. It is now recognized that the Casimir effect plays an important role in the operation of micro-and nano-electromechanical devices (MEMS and NEMS) [3,4,13]. In particular, the research of experimental setups that allow for a modulation of the intensity or the sign of the force is of great interest as it may help to prevent the jamming ('stiction') of such machinery due to attractive forces, leading to the * Electronic address: harald.haakh@mpl.mpg.de breakdown of the device. In the field of miniaturized atom traps, the control over the Casimir-Polder attraction is desirable to ach...

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