{"paper":{"title":"Optical response of gas-phase atoms at less than $\\lambda/80$ from a dielectric surface","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":[],"primary_cat":"physics.atom-ph","authors_text":"A. Sargsyan, C. S. Adams, D. Sarkisyan, I. G. Hughes, J. Keaveney, K. A. Whittaker","submitted_at":"2014-03-12T17:17:36Z","abstract_excerpt":"We present experimental observations of atom-light interactions within tens of nanometers (down to 11~nm) of a sapphire surface. Using photon counting we detect the fluorescence from of order one thousand Rb or Cs atoms, confined in a vapor with thickness much less than the optical excitation wavelength. The asymmetry in the spectral lineshape provides a direct read-out of the atom-surface potential. A numerical fit indicates a power-law $-C_{\\alpha}/r^{\\alpha}$ with $\\alpha=3.02\\pm0.06$ confirming that the van der Waals interaction dominates over other effects. The extreme sensitivity of our "},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"1403.3035","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}