Lifetimes of atoms trapped in an optical lattice in proximity of a surface

Sophie Pelisson (1) , Riccardo Messina (2, 1) , Marie-Christine Angonin (1) , Peter Wolf (1)

1 LNE - SYRTE - Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais - Systèmes de Référence Temps-Espace
2 Laboratoire Charles Fabry / Naphel

We study the lifetime of an atom trapped in an optical vertical lattice in proximity of a massive surface using a complex-scaling approach. We analyze how the presence of the surface modifies the known lifetimes of Wannier-Stark states associated with Landau-Zener tunneling. We also investigate how the existence of a hypothetical short-distance deviation from Newton's gravitational law could affect these lifetimes. Our study is relevant in order to discuss the feasibility of any atomic-interferometry experiment performed near a surface. Finally, the difficulties encountered in applying the complex-scaling approach to the atom-surface Casimir-Polder interaction are addressed. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.88.013411 PACS number(s): 37.10.Jk, 34.35.+a, 37.25.+k, 42.50.Ct

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]

Sophie Pelisson, Riccardo Messina, Marie-Christine Angonin, Peter Wolf. Lifetimes of atoms trapped in an optical lattice in proximity of a surface. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2013, 88 (1), pp.013411. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.88.013411⟩. ⟨hal-01334978⟩