Lateral Casimir Force beyond the Proximity-Force Approximation

Journal Article · Fri Mar 17 00:00:00 EST 2006 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.96.1· OSTI ID:20778795

Rodrigues, Robson B; Neto, Paulo A. Maia ^[1]; Lambrecht, Astrid; Reynaud, Serge ^[2]

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1. Instituto de Fisica, UFRJ, CP 68528, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-972 (Brazil)
2. Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, CNRS, ENS, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie case 74, Campus Jussieu, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05 (France)

We argue that the appropriate variable to study a nontrivial geometry dependence of the Casimir force is the lateral component of the Casimir force, which we evaluate between two corrugated metallic plates outside the validity of the proximity-force approximation. The metallic plates are described by the plasma model, with arbitrary values for the plasma wavelength, the plate separation, and the corrugation period, the corrugation amplitude remaining the smallest length scale. Our analysis shows that in realistic experimental situations the proximity-force approximation overestimates the force by up to 30%.

• OSTI ID: 20778795
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.100402; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
APPROXIMATIONS
CASIMIR EFFECT
GEOMETRY
PLASMA
PLATES
WAVELENGTHS