Coupled surface polaritons and the Casimir force

Journal Article · Sat Jan 31 23:00:00 EST 2004 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.69.023808· OSTI ID:20640783

Henkel, C; Joulain, K; Mulet, J -Ph; Greffet, J -J ^[1]

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1. Institut fuer Physik, Universitaet Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469 Potsdam (Germany)

The Casimir force between metallic plates made of realistic materials is evaluated for distances in the nanometer range. A spectrum over real frequencies is introduced and shows narrow peaks due to surface resonances (plasmon polaritons or phonon polaritons) that are coupled across the vacuum gap. We demonstrate that the Casimir force originates from the attraction (repulsion) due to the corresponding symmetric (antisymmetric) eigenmodes, respectively. This picture is used to derive a simple analytical estimate of the Casimir force at short distances. We recover the result known for Drude metals without absorption and compute the correction for weakly absorbing materials.

• OSTI ID: 20640783
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 69; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
CASIMIR EFFECT
CORRECTIONS
DISTANCE
METALS
PHONONS
PLATES
POLARONS
RESONANCE
SURFACES