Abstract

We use evanescent waves in a counterpropagating beams configuration to study the adsorption/desorption processes at a Cs vapor/dielectric interface in a sealed cell. Atoms close to the surface are velocity-selectively spin-polarized before adsorption by an amplitude-modulated pump beam. We subsequently observe the contribution of the desorbed atoms to the probe-beam absorption by way of phase-sensitive detection. We measure the number of desorbing polarized Cs atoms as a function of the surface temperature. The analysis of results is done through a simple thermodynamical model for the atomic desorption and we discuss its validity to infer the adsorption energy of the cesium atoms on a fused-quartz surface.

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