Abstract
Herein we demonstrate the dramatic effect of non-locality on the plasmons which contribute to the Casimir forces, with a graphene sandwich as a case study. The simplicity of this system allowed us to trace each contribution independently, as we observed that interband processes, although dominating the forces at short separations, are poorly accounted for in the framework of the Dirac cone approximation alone, and should be supplemented with other descriptions for energies higher than 2.5 eV. Finally, we proved that distances smaller than 200 nm, despite being extremely relevant to state-of-the-art measurements and nanotechnology applications, are inaccessible with closed-form response function calculations at present.
Highlights
Casimir forces are rare instances of quantum phenomena in room conditions, typically manifesting as an attractive force between two conducting plates due to vacuum fluctuations [1,2]
It has been recognised that surface modes play a crucial role in Casimir forces, which is true for surface polaritons such as plasmons and phonons, where the associated pole in reflectivity dominates the force [7,8]
We are especially interested in graphene because it is mostly transparent to propagating modes, and supports strongly confined surface plasmons
Summary
Casimir forces are rare instances of quantum phenomena in room conditions, typically manifesting as an attractive force between two conducting plates due to vacuum fluctuations [1,2] These forces are of critical technological importance, as they cause stiction in micro and nano electromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) [3]. It has been recognised that surface modes play a crucial role in Casimir forces, which is true for surface polaritons such as plasmons and phonons, where the associated pole in reflectivity dominates the force [7,8] Because of this property, surface modes are often engineered via nanostructuration as a means to exert some control over and mitigate the strong attraction arising in tiny gaps [9,10]. It can play a major role in the forces, and tends to be underestimated [14,16]
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