Quantum Optomechanics with Imperfect Mirrors and Casimir-Polder Effect of Atoms with Different Dynamic Polarizabilities: A Unified Treatment via a Microscopic Model

Abstract

This work aims at bringing the microphysics model of quantum optomechanics (QOM) proposed in [1] and developed in [2, 3] one step closer to be applicable to realistic experimental conditions, specifically, for imperfect mirrors, and for real materials. The atom/mirror-oscillator-field (AMOF) model features an internal degree of freedom for a mirror or an atom whose interaction with a quantum field determines the transmission functions of a mirror or the dynamic polarizability of an atom. We study three problems with this model: 1) An imperfect mirror moving in a cavity field, comparing results from the AMOF model with the boundary condition methods; 2) We analyze how well the dynamic polarizability derived from the AMOF model fits the tabulated data at different frequencies. 3) Combining these two parts we analyze the quantum fluctuations induced Casimir-Polder energy between a dilute atom space and a wall. We examine how well we can use the three constituent parameters of the idf oscillator in the AMOF model to match with published results on a meta-stable He* atom near a Au plate and found excellent agreements. These examples show that the AMOF model not only has a sound theoretical structure, because it is based on the microphysics dynamics of the basic constituents, it also has good practical values because it can produce accurate results for certain real materials.