Dynamical Casimir-Polder force on a partially dressed atom near a conducting wall

Journal Article · Tue Dec 14 23:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.82.062501· OSTI ID:21528860

Messina, Riccardo ^[1]; Vasile, Ruggero ^[2]; Passante, Roberto ^[3]

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1. SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris 61, avenue de l'Observatoire, F-75014 Paris (France)
2. Turku Centre for Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turun Yliopisto (Finland)
3. Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Astronomiche dell'Universita degli Studi di Palermo and CNSIM, Via Archirafi 36, I-90123 Palermo (Italy)

We study the time evolution of the Casimir-Polder force acting on a neutral atom in front of a perfectly conducting plate, when the system starts its unitary evolution from a partially dressed state. We solve the Heisenberg equations for both atomic and field quantum operators, exploiting a series expansion with respect to the electric charge and an iterative technique. After discussing the behavior of the time-dependent force on an initially partially dressed atom, we analyze a possible experimental scheme to prepare the partially dressed state and the observability of this new dynamical effect.

• OSTI ID: 21528860
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 82; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATOMS
CALCULATION METHODS
ELECTRIC CHARGES
EVOLUTION
FIELD OPERATORS
HEISENBERG PICTURE
ITERATIVE METHODS
MATHEMATICAL EVOLUTION
MATHEMATICAL OPERATORS
QUANTUM OPERATORS
SERIES EXPANSION
TIME DEPENDENCE
WALLS