Atomic states in optical traps near a planar surface

TL;DR

This paper investigates how atomic energy levels in a vertical optical lattice are affected by a nearby surface, including Casimir-Polder interactions, finite atomic size effects, and potential non-Newtonian gravity modifications.

Contribution

It introduces an effective model for atomic size effects and analyzes energy shifts due to surface interactions and hypothetical gravity deviations.

Findings

Casimir-Polder interaction causes measurable energy shifts.

Finite atomic size regularizes energy correction calculations.

Potential non-Newtonian gravity effects could be experimentally observed.

Abstract

In this work we discuss the atomic states in a vertical optical lattice in proximity of a surface. We study the modifications to the ordinary Wannier-Stark states in presence of a surface and we characterize the energy shifts produced by the Casimir-Polder interaction between atom and mirror. In this context, we introduce an effective model describing the finite size of the atom in order to regularize the energy corrections. In addition, the modifications to the energy levels due to a hypothetical non-Newtonian gravitational potential as well as their experimental observability are investigated.