Retardation Effects in Atom-Wall Interactions
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2023
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| _version_ | 1866914715175747584 |
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| author | Das, T. Ullrich, C. A. Jentschura, U. D. |
| author_facet | Das, T. Ullrich, C. A. Jentschura, U. D. |
| contents | The onset of retardation effects in atom-wall interactions is studied. It is shown that the transition range from the 1/z^3 short-range (van der Waals) interaction to the 1/z^4 long-range (Casimir) retarded interaction critically depends on the atomic properties and on the dielectric function of the material. For simple non-alkali atoms (e.g., ground-state hydrogen and ground-state helium) interacting with typical dielectric materials such as intrinsic silicon, the transition to the retarded regime is shown to proceed at a distance of about 10 nm (200 Bohr radii). This is much shorter than typical characteristic absorption wavelengths of solids. Larger transition regimes are obtained for atoms with a large static polarizability such as metastable helium. We present a simple estimate for the critical distance, z_cr=137*(α(0)/Z)^(1/2) atomic units, where alpha(0) is the static polarizability (expressed in atomic units) and Z is the number of electrons of the atom. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_02667 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Retardation Effects in Atom-Wall Interactions Das, T. Ullrich, C. A. Jentschura, U. D. Other Condensed Matter Atomic Physics The onset of retardation effects in atom-wall interactions is studied. It is shown that the transition range from the 1/z^3 short-range (van der Waals) interaction to the 1/z^4 long-range (Casimir) retarded interaction critically depends on the atomic properties and on the dielectric function of the material. For simple non-alkali atoms (e.g., ground-state hydrogen and ground-state helium) interacting with typical dielectric materials such as intrinsic silicon, the transition to the retarded regime is shown to proceed at a distance of about 10 nm (200 Bohr radii). This is much shorter than typical characteristic absorption wavelengths of solids. Larger transition regimes are obtained for atoms with a large static polarizability such as metastable helium. We present a simple estimate for the critical distance, z_cr=137*(α(0)/Z)^(1/2) atomic units, where alpha(0) is the static polarizability (expressed in atomic units) and Z is the number of electrons of the atom. |
| title | Retardation Effects in Atom-Wall Interactions |
| topic | Other Condensed Matter Atomic Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.02667 |