Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 73, Number 6, March 2006
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 839 - 845 | |
Section | The physics of elementary particles and fields | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2005-10477-3 | |
Published online | 08 February 2006 |
Measurement of the van der Waals force using reflection of cold atoms from magnetic thin-film atom mirrors
Fundamental Interactions Lab (Gravitation Group) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai-400 005, India
Received:
23
September
2005
Accepted:
24
January
2006
We report on a measurement of the van der Waals interaction between rubidium
atoms in the ground state and a metallic surface, employing a new method
involving reflection of laser-cooled atoms from magnetic thin-film atom
mirrors. We made use of the fact that the typical distance from which atoms
reflect from thin-film magnetic mirrors is of the order of the magnetic
domain size and the thickness of the thin film. The modification of the
reflectivity of cold atoms from cobalt thin-film magnetic mirrors, with
thickness in the range of , due to the competition between the
attractive atom-surface interaction and the repulsive magnetic interaction
enabled the measurement of the van der Waals force in the range 20–
with an uncertainty of 15%. The measured value agrees well with recent
theoretical estimates.
PACS: 34.50.Dy – Interaction of atoms and molecules with surfaces; photon and electron emission; neutralization of ions / 03.75.Be – Atom and neutron optics / 32.80.Pj – Optical cooling of atoms; trapping
© EDP Sciences, 2006
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