Interrogation and fabrication of nm scale hot alkali vapour cells

Abstract

Here we describe our use of cells with nm scale thickness ('nanocells') to investigate inter-atomic, atom- light and atom-surface interactions. Such cells allow us to access high density regimes previously unexplored in vapour cell spectroscopy, and to probe the interaction of atoms within the near field of surfaces, where atoms interact with their own virtual image. We also discuss the future fabrication of such cells in Durham.