Atom-surface physics: A review

Abstract

An atom in front of a surface is one of the simplest and fundamental problem in physics. Yet, it allows testing quantum electrodynamics, while providing potential platforms and interfaces for quantum technologies. Despite, its simplicity, combined with strong scientific and technological interests, atom-surface physics, at its fundamental level, remains largely unexplored mainly because of challenges associated with precise control of the atom-surface distance. Nevertheless, substantial breakthroughs have been made over the last two decades. With the development of cold and quantum atomic gases, one has gained further control on atom-surface position, naturally leading to improved precision in the Casimir-Polder interaction measurement. Advances have also been reported in finding experimental knobs to tune and even reverse the Casimir-Polder interaction strength. So far, this has only been achieved for atoms in short-lived excited states, however, the rapid progresses in material sciences, e.g. metamaterials and topological materials have inspired new ideas for controlling the atom-surface interaction in long-lived states. In addition, combining nano-photonic and atom-surface physics is now envisioned for applications in quantum information processing. The first purpose of this review is to give a general overview on the latest experimental developments in atom-surface physics. The second main objective is to sketch a vision of the future of the field, mainly inspired by the abundant theoretical works and proposals available now in the literature.

arXiv commentReview paper 43 pages, 6 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Sign inversion in the lateral van der Waals force
• Regimes of the lateral van der Waals force in the presence of dielectrics
• Dynamical Casimir effects with atoms: from the emission of photon pairs to geometric phases
• Controlling electric and magnetic Purcell effects in phosphorene via strain engineering
• Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and a Chern insulator: topological signature and long-range repulsion
• Cooperative atomic emission from a line of atoms interacting with a resonant plane surface
• Tailoring the van der Waals interaction with rotation
• Multipole expansion for dispersion forces -- watch this trace
• Neutrino mass and nature through its mediation in atomic clock interference
• Selective reflection Casimir-Polder spectroscopy in vapor cells: the influence of the thermal velocity distribution
• Atom-surface interaction induced by quenched monopolar charge disorder