Thermal Casimir-Polder shifts in Rydberg atoms near metallic surfaces
- Quantum Optics and Laser Science, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)
- Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim (Norway)
The Casimir-Polder (CP) potential and transition rates of a Rydberg atom above a plane metal surface at finite temperature are discussed. As an example, the CP potential and transition rates of a rubidium atom above a copper surface at 300 K are computed. Close to the surface we show that the quadrupole correction to the force is significant and increases with increasing principal quantum number n. For both the CP potential and decay rates one finds that the dominant contribution comes from the longest wavelength transition and the potential is independent of temperature. We provide explicit scaling laws for potential and decay rates as functions of atom-surface distance and principal quantum number of the initial Rydberg state.
- OSTI ID:
- 21440440
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. A, Vol. 82, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.82.010901; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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