Noble Gas, Alkali and Alkaline Atoms Interacting with a Gold Surface

Abstract

The attractive branch of the interaction potentials with the surface of gold have been computed for a large variety of atomic systems: the hydrogen atom, noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe), alkali atoms (Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs) and alkaline atoms (Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba). The results include highly accurate dynamic polarizabilities for the helium atom calculated using a variational method and explicitly correlated wavefunctions. For other atoms considered we used the data available in the literature. The interaction potentials include both the effects of retardation of the electromagnetic interactions and a realistic representation of the optical response function of gold (beyond the approximation of a perfect conductor). An explicit comparison of our result to the interaction between an atom and a perfect conductor is given. © 2010 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Department(s)

Physics

Keywords and Phrases

Atom-surface Interactions; Casimir Forces; Dynamic Polarizability; Gold; Helium; Quantum Reflection; Retardation; Van Der Waals Forces

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0217-751X

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2010 World Scientific Publishing Co., All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Apr 2010

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS