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Title: Dynamics of thermal Casimir-Polder forces on polar molecules

Abstract

We study the influence of thermal Casimir-Polder forces on the near-surface trapping of cold polar molecules, with emphasis on LiH and YbF near a Au surface at room temperature. We show that even for a molecule initially prepared in its electronic and rovibrational ground state, the Casimir-Polder force oscillates with the molecule-wall separation. The nonresonant force and the evanescent part of the resonant force almost exactly cancel at high temperature which results in a saturation of the (attractive) force in this limit. This implies that the Casimir-Polder force on a fully thermalized molecule can differ dramatically from that obtained using a naive perturbative expansion of the Lifshitz formula based on the molecular ground-state polarizability. A dynamical calculation reveals how the spatial oscillations die out on a typical time scale of several seconds as thermalization of the molecule with its environment sets in.

Authors:
; ;  [1]
  1. Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim (Norway)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21308487
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Physical Review. A
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 79; Journal Issue: 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.79.052903; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS; CASIMIR EFFECT; COOLING; GROUND STATES; LITHIUM HYDRIDES; MOLECULES; PHOTON-MOLECULE COLLISIONS; POLARIZABILITY; RADIATION PRESSURE; SURFACES; TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K; THERMALIZATION; VIBRATIONAL STATES

Citation Formats

Ellingsen, Simen Aadnoey, Buhmann, Stefan Yoshi, Scheel, Stefan, and Quantum Optics and Laser Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ. Dynamics of thermal Casimir-Polder forces on polar molecules. United States: N. p., 2009. Web. doi:10.1103/PHYSREVA.79.052903.
Ellingsen, Simen Aadnoey, Buhmann, Stefan Yoshi, Scheel, Stefan, & Quantum Optics and Laser Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ. Dynamics of thermal Casimir-Polder forces on polar molecules. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.79.052903
Ellingsen, Simen Aadnoey, Buhmann, Stefan Yoshi, Scheel, Stefan, and Quantum Optics and Laser Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ. 2009. "Dynamics of thermal Casimir-Polder forces on polar molecules". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.79.052903.
@article{osti_21308487,
title = {Dynamics of thermal Casimir-Polder forces on polar molecules},
author = {Ellingsen, Simen Aadnoey and Buhmann, Stefan Yoshi and Scheel, Stefan and Quantum Optics and Laser Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ},
abstractNote = {We study the influence of thermal Casimir-Polder forces on the near-surface trapping of cold polar molecules, with emphasis on LiH and YbF near a Au surface at room temperature. We show that even for a molecule initially prepared in its electronic and rovibrational ground state, the Casimir-Polder force oscillates with the molecule-wall separation. The nonresonant force and the evanescent part of the resonant force almost exactly cancel at high temperature which results in a saturation of the (attractive) force in this limit. This implies that the Casimir-Polder force on a fully thermalized molecule can differ dramatically from that obtained using a naive perturbative expansion of the Lifshitz formula based on the molecular ground-state polarizability. A dynamical calculation reveals how the spatial oscillations die out on a typical time scale of several seconds as thermalization of the molecule with its environment sets in.},
doi = {10.1103/PHYSREVA.79.052903},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21308487}, journal = {Physical Review. A},
issn = {1050-2947},
number = 5,
volume = 79,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009},
month = {Fri May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009}
}