This topical issue of Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics contains 16 contributions devoted to quantum systems with moving boundaries. In a broad sense, the papers continue the studies opened exactly 100 years ago by Einstein in his seminal work on the electrodynamics of moving bodies and the quantum nature of light. Another jubilee which we wish to celebrate by launching this issue is the 80th anniversary of the publication of two papers, where the first solutions of the classical Maxwell equations in a one-dimensional cavity with moving boundaries were obtained, by T H Havelock (1924 Some dynamical illustrations of the pressure of radiation and of adiabatic invariance Phil. Mag. 47 754–71) and by E L Nicolai (1925 On a dynamical illustration of the pressure of radiation Phil. Mag. 49 171–7). As was shown by Einstein, studying the fluctuations of the electromagnetic field inevitably leads one to its quantum (corpuscular) nature. Many papers in this issue deal with problems where moving boundaries produce parametric excitation of vacuum fluctuations of the field, which could result in several different observable effects, like the modification of the famous Casimir force, or the creation of real quanta from the vacuum. It is worth emphasizing that these phenomena, frequently referred to as nonstationary (or dynamical) Casimir effects, are no longer the province only of pure theorists: some experimental groups have already started long-term work aimed at observing such effects in the laboratory. Of course, many difficult problems remain to be resolved before this dream becomes reality. Several papers here show both important progress in this direction, and possible difficulties still to be tackled. Problems that have been considered include, in particular, decoherence, entanglement, and the roles of geometry and polarization. Other papers deal with fundamental problems like the Unruh effect, the interaction of accelerated relativistic atoms with radiation, vacuum friction, and so on. Solutions of some interesting problems of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics with time-dependent boundary conditions, including applications to Bose–Einstein condensates, can also be found here. Since nonstationary Casimir effects can exist not only for photons but for any other quanta (e.g., phonons in solids or in liquid helium), we believe the approaches and results presented in this collection will find interesting applications in other branches of physics too. One possible example might be the generation of squeezed and other 'nonclassical' states of different fields by time-dependent boundary conditions. Approximately half the contributed papers stem from talks at two recent conferences: the First International Workshop on Problems with Moving Boundaries, organized by Professor J Dittrich in Prague in October 2003, and the International Workshop on the Dynamical Casimir Effect, organized by Professor G Carugno in Padua in June 2004. We wish to thank all the authors and reviewers for their efforts in preparing high quality papers, which we hope will attract the attention of other researchers, and especially of young people, to the fascinating areas covered by this special issue.
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Jun 22, 2005
Mohammad Montazeri + 1
Open Access