Dynamical Casimir-Polder force between an excited atom and a conducting wall
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We consider the dynamical atom-surface Casimir-Polder force in the nonequilibrium configuration of an atom near a perfectly conducting wall, initially prepared in an excited state with the field in its vacuum state. We evaluate the time-dependent Casimir-Polder force on the atom and find that it shows an oscillatory behavior from attractive to repulsive both in time and in space. We also investigate the asymptotic behavior in time of the dynamical force and of related local field quantities, showing that the static value of the force, as obtained by a time-independent approach, is recovered for times much longer than the time scale of the atomic self-dressing but shorter than the atomic decay time. We then discuss the evolution of global quantities such as atomic and field energies and their asymptotic behavior. We also compare our results for the dynamical force on the excited atom with analogous results recently obtained for an initially bare ground-state atom. We show that new relevant features are obtained in the case of an initially excited atom, for example, much larger values of the dynamical force with respect to the static one, allowing for an easier way to single out and observe the dynamical Casimir-Polder effect.
Date Issued
2016-10-14
Date Acceptance
2016-10-14
Citation
Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, 2016, 94 (4)
ISSN
1050-2947
Publisher
American Physical Society
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Volume
94
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2016 American Physical Society.
Subjects
quant-ph
General Physics
02 Physical Sciences
01 Mathematical Sciences
03 Chemical Sciences
Publication Status
Published