English

Nonequilibrium atom-surface interaction with lossy multi-layer structures

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2018-06-27 v1 Optics Quantum Physics

Abstract

The impact of lossy multi-layer structures on nonequilibrium atom-surface interactions is discussed. Specifically, the focus lies on a fully non-Markovian and nonequilibrium description of quantum friction, the fluctuation-induced drag force acting on an atom moving at constant velocity and height above the multi-layer structures. Compared to unstructured bulk material, the drag force for multi-layer systems is considerably enhanced and exhibits different regimes in its velocity and distance dependences. These features are linked to the appearance of coupled interface polaritons within the superlattice structures. Our results are not only useful for an experimental investigation of quantum friction but also highlight a way to tailor the interaction by simply modifying the structural composition of the multi-layer systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1804.01453,
  title  = {Nonequilibrium atom-surface interaction with lossy multi-layer structures},
  author = {Marty Oelschläger and Kurt Busch and Francesco Intravaia},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.01453},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

13 pages, 10 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T01:13:50.642Z