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Casimir–Polder interactions in the presence of thermally excited surface modes

Author

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  • Athanasios Laliotis

    (Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Université Paris 13
    CNRS, UMR 7538)

  • Thierry Passerat de Silans

    (Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Université Paris 13
    CNRS, UMR 7538
    Laboratório de Superfície, DF-CCEN, Cx. Postal 5086 Universidade Federal de Paraíba)

  • Isabelle Maurin

    (Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Université Paris 13
    CNRS, UMR 7538)

  • Martial Ducloy

    (Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Université Paris 13
    CNRS, UMR 7538)

  • Daniel Bloch

    (Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Université Paris 13
    CNRS, UMR 7538)

Abstract

The temperature dependence of the Casimir–Polder interaction addresses fundamental issues for understanding vacuum and thermal fluctuations. It is highly sensitive to surface waves, which, in the near field, govern the thermal emission of a hot surface. Here we use optical reflection spectroscopy to monitor the atom–surface interaction potential between a Cs*(7D3/2) atom and a hot sapphire surface at distances of ~100 nm. In our experiments, that explore a large range of temperatures (500–1,000 K), the surface is at thermal equilibrium with the vacuum. The observed increase of the interaction with temperature, by up to 50%, relies on the coupling between atomic virtual transitions in the infrared range and thermally excited surface-polariton modes. We extrapolate our findings to a broad distance range, from the isolated atom to the short distances relevant to physical chemistry. Our work also opens the prospect of controlling atom–surface interactions by engineering thermal fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Athanasios Laliotis & Thierry Passerat de Silans & Isabelle Maurin & Martial Ducloy & Daniel Bloch, 2014. "Casimir–Polder interactions in the presence of thermally excited surface modes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5364
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5364
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    Cited by:

    1. Guadalupe Garcia Arellano & Joao Carlos Aquino Carvalho & Hippolyte Mouhanna & Esther Butery & Thierry Billeton & Frederic Du-Burck & Benoit Darquié & Isabelle Maurin & Athanasios Laliotis, 2024. "Probing molecules in gas cells of subwavelength thickness with high frequency resolution," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.

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