Cold atoms can adsorb to a surface with the emission of a single phonon when the binding energy is sufficiently small. The effects of phonon damping and adsorbent size on the adsorption rate in this quantum regime are studied using the multimode Rabi model. It is demonstrated that the adsorption rate can be either enhanced or suppressed relative to the Fermi golden rule rate, in analogy to cavity effects in the spontaneous emission rate in QED. A mesoscopic-sized adsorbent behaves as an acoustic cavity that enhances the adsorption rate when tuned to the adsorption transition frequency and suppresses the rate when detuned. This acoustic cavity effect occurs in the regime where the frequency spacing between vibrational modes exceeds the phonon linewidth.

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• Adsorption
• Atom or molecule scattering from surfaces
• Chemical reactions
• Cold atoms & matter waves
• Phonons
• Polarons
• Quantum engineering
• Ultracold collisions
• Ultracold gases
• Nonperturbative methods
• Rabi model