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Van der Waals shifts in an atom near absorptive dielectric mirrors

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 08:29 authored by Gabriel Barton
The changes of energies and lifetimes are calculated for an atom fixed near a flat dielectric mirror, or at the midpoint of the gap between two such mirrors. The theory is formulated only for the non-retarded regime governed wholly by Coulomb forces, where all separations are much smaller than the dominant absorption wavelengths of the atom. It proceeds by constructing and then quantizing a simple model for the dielectric that admits dissipation and covers the resonant case important for experiments, where a downward atomic transition frequency can coincide with the (discrete) frequency of surface polaritons on a hypothetically non-dissipative half-space. The results are found first for zero temperature and then for T > 0. For completeness, an appendix extends the model to an unbounded medium.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Proceedings A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

ISSN

1471-2946

Publisher

Royal Society, The

Issue

1966

Volume

453

Page range

2461-2495

ISBN

1364-5021

Department affiliated with

  • Physics and Astronomy Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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