Long range influence of surface-polariton on atom internal dynamics

Analysis of the data of FM SR lineshapes using a fitting method that simultaneously accounts for the dispersive and the dissipative effects of the resonant coupling. In the theoretical model, two dimensionless parameters A and B describe the overall z/sup -3 /coupling. A=2k/sup 3/C/sub 3///spl gamma//sub 0/ represents the strength of the vW attraction (/spl gamma//sub 0,/ homogeneous linewidth) and B = k/sup 3//spl Gamma/ (k = /spl omega//sub 0//c with /spl omega//sub 0 /the frequency of the probed transition in the free space) is for the modified decay rate, with the resonantly-enhanced transition width defined by:/spl gamma/(z) = /spl gamma//sub 0/(1+/spl Gamma//z/sup 3/). The experiments are performed on Cs (6D/sub 3/2/) interacting with a sapphire surface with its c-axis parallel to the surface. Fits are carried out for the two hyperfine components (F = 3 and F = 4) of the probed transition 6P/sub 1/2/ /spl rarr/ 6D/sub 3/2/, and for different values of the Cs temperature. In comparison, present report deals with a situation when the two parameters A and B are comparable, as due to the detuning of the sapphire polariton resonance with the birefringence orientation axis: indeed, for a c-axis parallel to the sapphire window, the atomic de-excitation channel is close to the center of the surface resonance, and this tends to maximize the dissipative effects, while the associated dispersive effect is no longer the dominant one.