Lateral Casimir force beyond the proximity force approximation: A nontrivial interplay between geometry and quantum vacuum

Journal Article · Fri Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.75.062108· OSTI ID:20991072

Rodrigues, Robson B; Maia Neto, Paulo A ^[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)

The lateral Casimir force between two corrugated metallic plates makes possible a study of the nontrivial interplay of geometry and Casimir effect appearing beyond the regime of validity of the proximity-force approximation. Quantitative evaluations can be obtained by using scattering theory in a perturbative expansion valid when the corrugation amplitudes are smaller than the three other length scales: the mean separation distance L of the plates, the corrugation period {lambda}{sub C}, and the plasma wavelength {lambda}{sub P}. Within this perturbative expansion, evaluations are obtained for arbitrary relative values of L, {lambda}{sub C}, and {lambda}{sub P} while limiting cases, some of them already known, are recovered when these values obey some specific orderings. The consequence of these results for comparison with existing experiments is discussed at the end of the paper.

• OSTI ID: 20991072
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 75; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
APPROXIMATIONS
CASIMIR EFFECT
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EXPANSION
PERTURBATION THEORY
PLASMA
PLATES
SCATTERING
WAVELENGTHS