Probing the quantum vacuum with an artificial atom in front of a mirror

Abstract

Quantum fluctuations of the vacuum are both a surprising and fundamental phenomenon of nature. Understood as virtual photons flitting in and out of existence, they still have a very real impact, \emph{e.g.}, in the Casimir effects and the lifetimes of atoms. Engineering vacuum fluctuations is therefore becoming increasingly important to emerging technologies. Here, we shape vacuum fluctuations using a "mirror", creating regions in space where they are suppressed. As we then effectively move an artificial atom in and out of these regions, measuring the atomic lifetime tells us the strength of the fluctuations. The weakest fluctuation strength we observe is 0.02 quanta, a factor of 50 below what would be expected without the mirror, demonstrating that we can hide the atom from the vacuum.