First-Principles Study of Casimir Repulsion in Metamaterials

Journal Article · Fri Sep 18 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.103.120401· OSTI ID:21370670

Yannopapas, Vassilios ^[1]; Vitanov, Nikolay V ^[2]

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1. Department of Materials Science, University of Patras, GR-26504 Patras (Greece)
2. Department of Physics, Sofia University, James Bourchier 5 Boulevard, 1164 Sofia (Bulgaria)

We examine theoretically the Casimir effect between a metallic plate and several types of magnetic metamaterials in pursuit of Casimir repulsion, by employing a rigorous multiple-scattering theory for the Casimir effect. We first examine metamaterials in the form of two-dimensional lattices of inherently nonmagnetic spheres such as spheres made from materials possessing phonon-polariton and exciton-polariton resonances. Although such systems are magnetically active in infrared and optical regimes, the force between finite slabs of these materials and metallic slabs is plainly attractive since the effective electric permittivity is larger than the magnetic permeability for the studied spectrum. When lattices of magnetic spheres made from superparamagnetic composites are employed, we achieve not only Casimir repulsion but almost total suppression of the Casimir effect itself in the micrometer scale.

• OSTI ID: 21370670
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 103; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CASIMIR EFFECT
DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY
MAGNETISM
MULTIPLE SCATTERING
PERMITTIVITY
PHONONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
QUASI PARTICLES
SCATTERING
SUPERPARAMAGNETISM
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS