Casimir-Lifshitz interaction between dielectrics of arbitrary geometry: A dielectric contrast perturbation theory
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH (United Kingdom)
The general theory of electromagnetic-fluctuation-induced interactions in dielectric bodies as formulated by Dzyaloshinskii, Lifshitz, and Pitaevskii is rewritten as a perturbation theory in terms of the spatial contrast in (imaginary) frequency dependent dielectric function. The formulation can be used to calculate the Casimir-Lifshitz forces for dielectric objects of arbitrary geometry, as a perturbative expansion in the dielectric contrast, and could thus complement the existing theories that use perturbation in geometrical features. We find that expansion in dielectric contrast recasts the resulting Lifshitz energy into a sum of the different many-body contributions. The limit of validity and convergence properties of the perturbation theory is discussed using the example of parallel semi-infinite objects for which the exact result is known.
- OSTI ID:
- 21313261
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. A, Vol. 80, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.80.012519; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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