The van der Waals interaction of an atom with the convex surface of a nanocylinder*

Abstract

In this work, the van der Waals interaction between an atom and the convex surface of both metal and dielectric nanocylinders is analyzed. We obtain closed analytical equations for the van der Waals interaction potential in the electrostatic approximation and compare this with the case of the atom interaction with a flat surface. We show that the strength of the van der Waals interaction for the nanocylinder differs significantly from that of the flat surface. This is especially visible at distances of the order of a cylinder radius from the surface, where the nanocylinder potential reduces to half that of the flat surface potential. We also note that a weakening of the van der Waals potential for a cylindrical surface as compared with that for a flat surface can be important when considering schemes for trapping atoms around nanofibers.