Manifestation of the van der Waals surface interaction in the spontaneous emission of atoms into an optical nanofiber

Abstract

We study the spontaneous emission of atoms near an optical nanofiber and analyze the coupling efficiency of the spontaneous emission into a nanofiber. We also investigate the influence of the van der Waals interaction of atoms with the surface of the optical nanofiber on the spectrum of coupled light. Using, as an example, Rb-85 atoms we show that the van der Waals interaction may considerably extend the red wing of the spontaneous emission line and, accordingly, produce a well-defined asymmetry of the spontaneous emission spectrum coupled into an optical nanofiber.