Thermal Casimir Interaction Research Articles

Thermal Casimir interactions in multiparticle systems: Scattering channel approach

Thermal Casimir interactions in multiparticle systems: Scattering channel approach

Thermal Casimir interactions for higher derivative field Lagrangians: generalized Brazovskii models

We examine the Casimir effect for free statistical field theories which have Hamiltonians with second order derivative terms. Examples of such Hamiltonians arise from models of non-local electrostatics, membranes with non-zero bending rigidities and field theories of the Brazovskii type that arise for polymer systems. The presence of a second derivative term means that new types of boundary conditions can be imposed, leading to a richer phenomenology of interaction phenomena. In addition zero modes can be generated that are not present in standard first derivative models, and it is these zero modes which give rise to long range Casimir forces. Two physically distinct cases are considered: (i) unconfined fields, usually considered for finite size embedded inclusions in an infinite fluctuating medium, here in a two plate geometry the fluctuating field exists both inside and outside the plates, (ii) confined fields, where the field is absent outside the slab confined between the two plates. We show how these two physically distinct cases are mathematically related and discuss a wide range of commonly applied boundary conditions. We concentrate our analysis to the critical region where the underlying bulk Hamiltonian has zero modes and show that very exotic Casimir forces can arise, characterised by very long range effects and oscillatory behavior that can lead to strong metastability in the system.

Nernst heat theorem for the thermal Casimir interaction between two graphene sheets

We find analytic asymptotic expressions at low temperature for the Casimir free energy, entropy and pressure of two parallel graphene sheets in the framework of the Lifshitz theory. The reflection coefficients of electromagnetic waves on graphene are described on the basis of first principles of quantum electrodynamics at nonzero temperature using the polarization tensor in (2+1)-dimensional space-time. The leading contributions to the Casimir entropy and to the thermal corrections to the Casimir energy and pressure are given by the thermal correction to the polarization tensor at nonzero Matsubara frequencies. It is shown that the Casimir entropy for two graphene sheets goes to zero when the temperature vanishes, i.e., the third law of thermodynamics (the Nernst heat theorem) is satisfied. At low temperature, the magnitude of the thermal correction to the Casimir pressure between two graphene sheets is shown to vary inversely proportional to the separation. The Nernst heat theorem for graphene is discussed in the context of problems occurring in Casimir physics for both metallic and dielectric plates.

Discontinuous bundling transition in semiflexible polymer networks induced by Casimir interactions.

Fluctuation-induced interactions are an important organizing principle in a variety of soft matter systems. We investigate the role of fluctuation-based or thermal Casimir interactions between cross linkers in a semiflexible network. One finds that, by integrating out the polymer degrees of freedom, there is an attractive logarithmic potential between nearest-neighbor cross linkers in a bundle, with a significantly weaker next-nearest-neighbor interaction. Here we show that a one-dimensional gas of these strongly interacting linkers in equilibrium with a source of unbound ones admits a discontinuous phase transition between a sparsely and a densely bound bundle. This discontinuous transition induced by the long-ranged nature of the Casimir interaction allows for a similarly abrupt structural transition in semiflexible filament networks between a low cross linker density isotropic phase and a higher cross link density bundle network. We support these calculations with the results of finite element Brownian dynamics simulations of semiflexible filaments and transient cross linkers.

Effective field theory of thermal Casimir interactions between anisotropic particles.

We employ an effective field theory (EFT) approach to study thermal Casimir interactions between objects bound to a fluctuating fluid surface or interface dominated by surface tension, with a focus on the effects of particle anisotropy. The EFT prescription disentangles the constraints imposed by the particles' boundaries from the calculation of the interaction free energy by constructing an equivalent point particle description. The finite-size information is captured in a derivative expansion that encodes the particles' response to external fields. The coefficients of the expansion terms correspond to generalized tensorial polarizabilities and are found by matching the results of a linear response boundary value problem computed in both the full and effective theories. We demonstrate the versatility of the EFT approach by constructing the general effective Hamiltonian for a collection of particles of arbitrary shapes. Taking advantage of the conformal symmetry of the Hamiltonian, we discuss a straightforward conformal mapping procedure to systematically determine the polarizabilities and derive a complete description for elliptical particles. We compute the pairwise interaction energies to several orders for nonidentical ellipses as well as their leading-order triplet interactions and discuss the resulting preferred pair and multibody configurations. Furthermore, we elaborate on the complications that arise with pinned particle boundary conditions and show that the powerlike corrections expected from dimensional analysis are exponentially suppressed by the leading-order interaction energies.

Theory of the Casimir interaction from graphene-coated substrates using the polarization tensor and comparison with experiment

We propose a theory of the thermal Casimir interaction for multilayered test bodies coated with a graphene sheet. The reflection coefficients on such structures are expressed in terms of the components of the polarization tensor and the dielectric permittivities of material layers. The developed theory is applied to calculate the gradient of the Casimir force between an Au-coated sphere and a graphene sheet deposited on a SiO${}_2$ film covering a Si plate, which is the configuration of a recent experiment performed by means of a dynamic atomic force microscope. The theoretical results are found to be in very good agreement with the experimental data. We thus confirm that graphene influences the Casimir interaction and can be used for tailoring the force magnitude in nanostructures.

Relaxation of the thermal Casimir force between net neutral plates containing Brownian charges

We investigate the dynamics of thermal Casimir interactions between plates described within a living conductor model, with embedded mobile anions and cations, whose density field obeys a stochastic partial differential equation which can be derived starting from the Langevin equations of the individual particles. This model describes the thermal Casimir interaction in the same way that the fluctuating dipole model describes van der Waals interactions. The model is analytically solved in a Debye-Hückel-like approximation. We identify several limiting dynamical regimes where the time dependence of the thermal Casimir interactions can be obtained explicitly. Most notably we find a regime with diffusive scaling, even though the charges are confined to the plates and do not diffuse into the intervening space, which makes the diffusive scaling difficult to anticipate and quite unexpected on physical grounds.

Thermal Casimir effect in the interaction of graphene with dielectrics and metals

We investigate the thermal Casimir interaction of a suspended graphene described by the Dirac model with a plate made of dielectric or metallic materials. The reflection coefficients on graphene expressed in terms of a temperature-dependent polarization tensor are used. We demonstrate that for a graphene with nonzero mass gap parameter the Casimir free energy remains nearly constant (and the thermal correction negligibly small) over some temperature interval. For the interaction of graphene with metallic plate, the free energy is nearly the same, irrespective of whether the metal is nonmagnetic or magnetic and whether it is described using the Drude or plasma model approaches. The free energy, computed using the Dirac model, was compared with that computed using the hydrodynamic model of graphene and big differences accessible for experimental observation have been found. For dielectric and nonmagnetic metallic plates, described by the Drude model, these differences vanish with increasing temperature (separation). However, for nonmagnetic metals, described by the plasma model, and for magnetic metals, a strong dependence on the chosen theoretical description of graphene remains even at high temperature. In all cases, the analytic asymptotic expressions for the free energy at high temperature are obtained and found to be in a very good agreement with the results of numerical computations.

Temperature dependent graphene suspension due to thermal Casimir interaction

Thermal effects contributing to the Casimir interaction between objects are usually small at room temperature, and they are difficult to separate from quantum mechanical contributions. We propose that the thermal Casimir force effect can be observed for a graphene flake suspended in a fluid between substrates at the room temperature regime. The properly chosen materials for the substrates and fluid induce a Casimir repulsion. The balance with the other forces, such as gravity and buoyancy, results in a stable temperature dependent equilibrium separation. The suspended graphene is a promising system due to its potential for observing thermal Casimir effects at room temperature.

Possibility of measuring the thermal Casimir interaction between a plate and a cylinder attached to a micromachined oscillator

We investigate the possibility of measuring the thermal Casimir force and its gradient in the configuration of a plate and a microfabricated cylinder attached to a micromachined oscillator. The Lifshitz-type formulas in this configuration are derived using the proximity force approximation. The accuracy for the obtained expressions is determined from a comparison with exact results available in ideal metal case. Computations of the thermal correction to both the Casimir force and its gradient are performed in the framework of different theoretical approaches proposed in the literature. The correction to the Casimir force and its gradient due to lack of parallelism of the plate and cylinder is determined using the nonmultiplicative approach. The error introduced in the theory due to the finite length of the cylinder is estimated. We propose that both static and dynamic experiments measuring the thermal Casimir interaction between a cylinder and a plate using a micromachined oscillator can shed additional light on the thermal Casimir force problem. Specifically, it is shown that the static experiment is better adapted for the measurement of thermal effects.

Quantum and thermal Casimir interaction between a sphere and a plate: Comparison of Drude and plasma models

We calculate the Casimir interaction between a sphere and a plate, both described by the plasma model, the Drude model, or generalizations of the two models. We compare the results at both zero and finite temperatures. At asymptotically large separations we obtain analytical results for the interaction that reveal a non-universal, i.e., material dependent interaction for the plasma model. The latter result contains the asymptotic interaction for Drude metals and perfect reflectors as different but universal limiting cases. This observation is related to the screening of a static magnetic field by a London superconductor. For small separations we find corrections to the proximity force approximation (PFA) that support correlations between geometry and material properties that are not captured by the Lifshitz theory. Our results at finite temperatures reveal for Drude metals a non-monotonic temperature dependence of the Casimir free energy and a negative entropy over a sizeable range of separations.

Thermal Casimir interaction between two magnetodielectric plates

We investigate the thermal Casimir interaction between two magnetodielectric plates made of real materials. On the basis of the Lifshitz theory, it is shown that for diamagnets and for paramagnets in the broad sense (with exception of ferromagnets) the magnetic properties do not influence the magnitude of the Casimir force. For ferromagnets, taking into account the realistic dependence of magnetic permeability on frequency, we conclude that the impact of magnetic properties on the Casimir interaction arises entirely from the contribution of the zero-frequency term in the Lifshitz formula. The computations of the Casimir free energy and pressure are performed for the configurations of two plates made of ferromagnetic metals (Co and Fe), for one plate made of ferromagnetic metal and the other of nonmagnetic metal (Au), for two ferromagnetic dielectric plates (on the basis of polystyrene), and for a ferromagnetic dielectric plate near a nonmagnetic metal plate. The dielectric permittivity of metals is described using both the Drude and the plasma model approaches. It is shown that the Casimir repulsion through the vacuum gap can be realized in the configuration of a ferromagnetic dielectric plate near a nonmagnetic metal plate described by the plasma model. In all cases considered, the respective analytical results in the asymptotic limit of large separations between the plates are obtained. The impact of the magnetic phase transition through the Curie temperature on the Casimir interaction is considered. In conclusion, we propose several experiments allowing to determine whether the magnetic properties really influence the Casimir interaction and to independently verify the Drude and plasma model approaches to the thermal Casimir force.

Fluctuation-induced interactions between dielectrics in general geometries

We study thermal Casimir and quantum nonretarded Lifshitz interactions between dielectrics in general geometries. We map the calculation of the classical partition function onto a determinant, which we discretize and evaluate with the help of Cholesky factorization. The quantum partition function is treated by path integral quantization of a set of interacting dipoles and reduces to a product of determinants. We compare the approximations of pairwise additivity and proximity force with our numerical methods. We propose a "factorization approximation" that gives rather good numerical results in the geometries that we study.

Numerical methods for fluctuation-driven interactions between dielectrics

We develop a discretized theory of thermal Casimir interactions to numerically calculate the interactions between fluctuating dielectrics. From a constrained partition function we derive a surface free energy, while handling divergences that depend on system size and discretization. We derive analytic results for parallel plate geometry in order to check the convergence of the numerical methods. We use the method to calculate vertical and lateral Casimir forces for a set of grooves.

Field-driven crossover from attractive-to-repulsive Casimir-like force in smectic films

External fields have a profound effect on the fluctuations of strongly correlated fluids, such as a liquid crystal. Within a harmonic functional integral approach, we compute the fluctuation-induced force between the surfaces of a smectic liquid-crystal film under the presence of an ordering field. In particular, we show that for asymmetrically anchored films, the thermal Casimir interaction energy can be collapsed into a universal form crossing over from a repulsive to an attractive interaction as the film thickness is increased. We discuss the possible relevance of this field effect in nematic-smectic wetting transitions.