Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 987–990 (2001)Specular Reflection of Very Slow Metastable Neon Atoms from a Solid Surface
See accompanying Physics Focus An ultracold narrow atomic beam of metastable neon in the 1s3[(2s)53p:1P0] state is used to study specular reflection of atoms from a solid surface at extremely slow incident velocity. The reflectivity on a silicon (1,0,0) surface and a BK7 glass surface is measured at the normal incident velocity between 1mm/s and 3cm/s. The reflectivity above 30% is observed at about 1mm/s. The observed velocity dependence is explained semiquantitatively by the quantum reflection that is caused by the attractive Casimir–van der Waals potential of the atom-surface interaction. © 2001 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.987
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.987
PACS:
34.50.Dy, 03.75.-b, 34.20.Cf
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