This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This research project aims to achieve a better understanding of the Casimir-Polder potential--the force between an electrically neutral atom and a surface due solely to fluctuations of the quantum- mechanical vacuum--in regimes of novel geometries and material properties. Precision measurements will be carried out with laser- cooled strontium atoms confined in lattices of laser light. The apparatus is designed to load atoms into a single lattice site, far away from the surface, and then move them to within a controlled distance of it. An important component of this research plan is to leverage the extensive technology developed for next-generation, ultrahigh precision, optical atomic clocks using strontium atoms. The main goals during the project period are: to construct a new laser-cooling apparatus to demonstrate these new techniques; to then explore novel effects on the atom-surface force related to the orientation of the atom with respect to the surface; to probe effects due to departures from the well-studied planar surface geometry; and to explore modifications to the atom-surface force due to changes in the atomic or material dispersion properties.
This research will contribute significantly to fundamental knowledge in atomic physics, material science, and quantum electrodynamics. The understanding of atom-surface interactions will assist the development of miniaturized, practical quantum technologies, such as atom-chip interferometers, sensors, and quantum-information processors. This is particularly the case inasmuch as understanding modifications to atom-surface interactions by changing material or geometric properties of surfaces enables the engineering of atom-surface potentials. Education is also an integral component of this project. This research will provide dissertation topics for at least two graduate students, and will also involve undergraduates in an exciting and interdisciplinary research area. This research will also directly impact coursework at the University of Oregon. In lecture courses at all levels, the Casimir-Polder effect and the atom- optical techniques involved in its measurement provide relevance for the course subject matter and stimulate student interest. The UO optics teaching laboratory will also benefit from "technology transfer" from the experiment, in that modular, easily reproduced equipment designed for use in the apparatus will be constructed by teaching-laboratory students to build up new, advanced laboratory modules.
