Computation of Casimir interactions between arbitrary three-dimensional objects with arbitrary material properties

Journal Article · Fri Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.84.010503· OSTI ID:22038563

Reid, M T. Homer ^[1]; White, Jacob ^[2]; Johnson, Steven G ^[2]

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1. Department Of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
2. Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

We extend a recently introduced method for computing Casimir forces between arbitrarily shaped metallic objects [M. T. H. Reid et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 040401 (2009)] to allow treatment of objects with arbitrary material properties, including imperfect conductors, dielectrics, and magnetic materials. Our original method considered electric currents on the surfaces of the interacting objects; the extended method considers both electric and magnetic surface current distributions, and obtains the Casimir energy of a configuration of objects in terms of the interactions of these effective surface currents. Using this new technique, we present the first predictions of Casimir interactions in several experimentally relevant geometries that would be difficult to treat with any existing method. In particular, we investigate Casimir interactions between dielectric nanodisks embedded in a dielectric fluid; we identify the threshold surface-surface separation at which finite-size effects become relevant, and we map the rotational energy landscape of bound nanoparticle diclusters.

• OSTI ID: 22038563
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 84; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
CASIMIR EFFECT
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
MAGNETIC MATERIALS
MAGNETIC SURFACES
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
SURFACES
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS