We show that the Casimir-Polder interaction may induce coherent oscillations between degenerate atomic states. We illustrate this effect by computing the Casimir-Polder induced Rabi frequency on a 87Rb atom as it interacts with a reflecting surface. The atom oscillates between two Zeeman sublevels of its ground state undergoing a periodic exchange of angular momentum with the vacuum photons.
@article{arxiv.1412.0040,
title = {Casimir-Polder induced Rabi oscillations},
author = {M. Donaire and M. -P. Gorza and A. Maury and R. Guerout and A. Lambrecht},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.0040},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
minor corrections made to agree with the published version