Lateral interatomic dispersion forces
arXiv:1802.09234 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.102.020802
Abstract
Van der Waals forces between atoms and molecules are universally assumed to act along the line separating them. Inspired by recent works on effects which can propel atoms parallel to a macroscopic surface via the Casimir--Polder force, we predict a lateral van der Waals force between two atoms, one of which is in an excited state with non-zero angular momentum and the other is isotropic and in its ground state. The resulting force acts in the same way as a planetary gear, in contrast to the rack-and-pinion motion predicted in works on the lateral Casimir--Polder force in the analogous case, for which the force predicted here is the microscopic origin. We illustrate the effect by predicting the trajectories of an excited caesium in the vicinity of ground-state rubidium, finding behaviour qualitatively different to that if lateral forces are ignored.
References in corpus (28)
- Chiral nanophotonic waveguide interface based on spin-orbit coupling of light
- Demonstration of the Lateral Casimir Force
- Casimir interaction of dielectric gratings
- Normal and Lateral Casimir Forces between Deformed Plates
- Non-contact rack and pinion powered by the lateral Casimir force
- Lateral Casimir force beyond the Proximity Force Approximation
- Lateral Casimir force on a rotating particle near a planar surface
- Strong Asymmetric Surface Plasmon Polariton Emission by a Dipole Emitter near a Metal Surface
- Probing quantum vacuum geometrical effects with cold atoms
- Dispersive interactions between atoms and non planar surfaces
- Directional spontaneous emission and lateral Casimir-Polder force on an atom close to a nanofiber
- A frustrated nanomechanical device powered by the lateral Casimir force
- Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and a dielectric grating
- Born expansion of the Casimir-Polder interaction of a ground-state atom with dielectric bodies
- Quasi-resonant van der Waals interaction between non-identical atoms
- Probing atom-surface interactions by diffraction of Bose-Einstein condensates
- Van der Waals interactions between excited atoms in generic environments
- Casimir-Polder interaction between an excited atom and a gas dielectric medium
- Impact of anisotropy on the interaction of an atom with a one-dimensional nano-grating
- Scalar Casimir-Polder forces for uniaxial corrugations
- Controllable directive radiation of a magnetic dipole above planar metal surface
- Long-Range Tails in van der Waals Interactions of Excited-State and Ground-State Atoms
- Spontaneous emission of a two-level atom with an arbitrarily polarized electric dipole in front of a flat dielectric surface
- Two-atom interaction energies with one atom in an excited state: van der Waals potentials vs. level shifts
- Lateral Casimir-Polder forces by breaking time-reversal symmetry
- Virtual Resonant Emission and Oscillatory Long-Range Tails in van der Waals Interactions of Excited States: QED Treatment and Applications
- Casimir-Polder Potential of a Driven Atom
- Dispersion interaction between two atoms in electromagnetic fields