Casimir Force on a Surface with Shallow Nanoscale Corrugations: Geometry and Finite Conductivity Effects

Journal Article · Fri Dec 17 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.250402· OSTI ID:21554471

Bao, Y ^[1]; Guerout, R; Lussange, J; Lambrecht, A ^[2]; Cirelli, R A; Klemens, F; Mansfield, W M; Pai, C S ^[3]; Chan, H B ^[4]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)
2. Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel, CNRS, ENS, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie case 74, Campus Jussieu, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05 (France)
3. Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974 (United States)
4. Department of Physics, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong)

We measure the Casimir force between a gold sphere and a silicon plate with nanoscale, rectangular corrugations with a depth comparable to the separation between the surfaces. In the proximity force approximation (PFA), both the top and bottom surfaces of the corrugations contribute to the force, leading to a distance dependence that is distinct from a flat surface. The measured Casimir force is found to deviate from the PFA by up to 10%, in good agreement with calculations based on scattering theory that includes both geometry effects and the optical properties of the material.

• OSTI ID: 21554471
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 25 Vol. 105; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CASIMIR EFFECT
ELEMENTS
GEOMETRY
GOLD
MATHEMATICS
METALS
NANOSTRUCTURES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SCATTERING
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SURFACES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS