69 research outputs found
The Casimir effect in the sphere-plane geometry
We present calculations of the Casimir interaction between a sphere and a
plane, using a multipolar expansion of the scattering formula. This
configuration enables us to study the nontrivial dependence of the Casimir
force on the geometry, and its correlations with the effects of imperfect
reflection and temperature. The accuracy of the Proximity Force Approximation
(PFA) is assessed, and is shown to be affected by imperfect reflexion. Our
analytical and numerical results at ambient temperature show a rich variety of
interplays between the effects of curvature, temperature, finite conductivity,
and dissipation.Comment: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference "Quantum Field
Theory Under the Influence of External Conditions" (Benasque, Spain, 2011);
10 pages and 6 figure
The Scattering Approach to the Casimir Force
We present the scattering approach which is nowadays the best tool for
describing the Casimir force in realistic experimental configurations. After
reminders on the simple geometries of 1d space and specular scatterers in 3d
space, we discuss the case of stationary arbitrarily shaped mirrors in
electromagnetic vacuum. We then review specific calculations based on the
scattering approach, dealing for example with the forces or torques between
nanostructured surfaces and with the force between a plane and a sphere. In
these various cases, we account for the material dependence of the forces, and
show that the geometry dependence goes beyond the trivial {\it Proximity Force
Approximation} often used for discussing experiments.Comment: Proceedings of the QFEXT'09 conference (Oklahoma, 2009
Thermal Casimir Effect in the Plane-Sphere Geometry
The thermal Casimir force between two metallic plates is known to depend on
the description of material properties. For large separations the dissipative
Drude model leads to a force a factor of 2 smaller than the lossless plasma
model. Here we show that the plane-sphere geometry, in which current experiment
are performed, decreases this ratio to a factor of 3/2, as revealed by exact
numerical and large distance analytical calculations. For perfect reflectors,
we find a repulsive contribution of thermal photons to the force and negative
entropy values at intermediate distances.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Casimir interaction between plane and spherical metallic surfaces
We give an exact series expansion of the Casimir force between plane and
spherical metallic surfaces in the non trivial situation where the sphere
radius , the plane-sphere distance and the plasma wavelength
have arbitrary relative values. We then present numerical
evaluation of this expansion for not too small values of . For metallic
nanospheres where and have comparable values, we interpret
our results in terms of a correlation between the effects of geometry beyond
the proximity force approximation (PFA) and of finite reflectivity due to
material properties. We also discuss the interest of our results for the
current Casimir experiments performed with spheres of large radius .Comment: 4 pages, new presentation (highlighting the novelty of the results)
and added references. To appear in Physical Review Letter
Classical Casimir interaction in the plane-sphere geometry
We study the Casimir interaction in the plane-sphere geometry in the
classical limit of high temperatures. In this limit, the finite conductivity of
the metallic plates needs to be taken into account. For the Drude model, the
classical Casimir interaction is nevertheless found to be independent of the
conductivity so that it can be described by a single universal function
depending only on the aspect ratio where is the interplate distance
and the sphere radius. This universal function differs from the one found
for perfect reflectors and is in principle amenable to experimental tests. The
asymptotic approach of the exact result to the Proximity Force Approximation
appears to be well fitted by polynomial expansions in .Comment: Updated version with minor modifications and addition of a referenc
Chiral discrimination in optical trapping and manipulation
When circularly polarized light interacts with chiral molecules or nanoscale particles powerful symmetry principles determine the possibility of achieving chiral discrimination, and the detailed form of electrodynamic mechanisms dictate the types of interaction that can be involved. The optical trapping of molecules and nanoscale particles can be described in terms of a forward-Rayleigh scattering mechanism, with trapping forces being dependent on the positioning within the commonly non-uniform intensity beam profile. In such a scheme, nanoparticles are commonly attracted to local potential energy minima, ordinarily towards the centre of the beam. For achiral particles the pertinent material response property usually entails an electronic polarizability involving transition electric dipole moments. However, in the case of chiral molecules, additional effects arise through the engagement of magnetic counterpart transition dipoles. It emerges that, when circularly polarized light is used for the trapping, a discriminatory response can be identified between left- and right-handed polarizations. Developing a quantum framework to accurately describe this phenomenon, with a tensor formulation to correctly represent the relevant molecular properties, the theory leads to exact analytical expressions for the associated energy landscape contributions. Specific results are identified for liquids and solutions, both for isotropic media and also where partial alignment arises due to a static electric field. The paper concludes with a pragmatic analysis of the scope for achieving enantiomer separation by such methods
Casimir interaction between a dielectric nanosphere and a metallic plane
We study the Casimir interaction between a dielectric nanosphere and a
metallic plane, using the multiple scattering theory. Exact results are
obtained with the dielectric described by a Sellmeier model and the metal by a
Drude model. Asymptotic forms are discussed for small spheres, large or small
distances. The well-known Casimir-Polder formula is recovered at the limit of
vanishingly small spheres, while an expression better behaved at small
distances is found for any finite value of the radius. The exact results are of
particular interest for the study of quantum states of nanospheres in the
vicinity of surfaces.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Strong Casimir force reduction through metallic surface nanostructuring
The Casimir force between bodies in vacuum can be understood as arising from
their interaction with an infinite number of fluctuating electromagnetic
quantum vacuum modes, resulting in a complex dependence on the shape and
material of the interacting objects. Becoming dominant at small separations,
the force plays a significant role in nanomechanics and object manipulation at
the nanoscale, leading to a considerable interest in identifying structures
where the Casimir interaction behaves significantly different from the
well-known attractive force between parallel plates. Here we experimentally
demonstrate that by nanostructuring one of the interacting metal surfaces at
scales below the plasma wavelength, an unexpected regime in the Casimir force
can be observed. Replacing a flat surface with a deep metallic lamellar grating
with sub-100 nm features strongly suppresses the Casimir force and for large
inter-surfaces separations reduces it beyond what would be expected by any
existing theoretical prediction.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
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