Correlation and van der Waals Force between a Single Atom and One-Dimensional Atomic Array

The van der Waals force between a single atom and a rod-like molecule is investigated by introducing a one-dimensional dipole dipole interaction atomic model. The force between a single atom and its nearest neighbor atom in a rod-like molecule is related to the correlation between them, which is obtained by solving the problem of coupled quantum oscillators. The dependence of the correlation on the coupling constant between the single atom and atoms in the molecule are presented for different molecular weight. Furthermore, the transition of the force from attractive to repulsive in the excited state is considered with regard to the correlation.