Optical interference effects on the Casimir-Lifshitz force in multilayer structures

Abstract

The Casimir-Lifshitz force F (C−L) between planar objects when one of them is stratified at the nanoscale is herein investigated. Layering results in optical interference effects that give rise to a modification of the optical losses, which, as stated by the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, should affect the Casimir-Lifshitz interaction. On these grounds, we demonstrate that, by nanostructuring the same volume of dielectric materials in diverse multilayer configurations, it is possible to access F (C−L) of attractive or repulsive nature, even getting cancelled, at specific separation distances.

Thermal Casimir effect with general boundary conditions

“…a e-mail: jose.munoz.castaneda@uva.es (corresponding author) b e-mail: lucia.santamaria@uva.es c e-mail: manuel.donaire@uva.es d e-mail: marcos.tello@uva.es Recently there has been renewed interest in the thermal Casimir effect motivated by its applications to the design of nano-electronic devices [15][16][17][18], the appearance of negative self-entropies in Casimir-like systems [19][20][21][22][23][24][25], technological applications, and cosmological problems [26]. In most of the cases the focus has been on the dependence of the Casimir effect at finite temperature with the geometry, and not much attention has been paid to the dependence on the physical properties of the boundaries appearing in the system.…”

Origin of anomalously stabilizing ice layers on methane gas hydrates near rock surface

“…As previously pointed out, 54 the m = 0 frequency Matsubara term sometimes has the opposite sign to the rest of finite frequency terms. For the case here, a positive sign for A 123 (or A 123;0 ) indicates short range (or long range for A 123;0 ) attraction, while a negative sign indicates repulsion.…”

Effect of Spatial Inhomogeneity on Quantum Trapping

“…As expected, PS inclusions absorb light very efficiently in the λ < 250 nm wavelength range, the region in which bulk PS strongly absorbs. 28 , 29 , 47 The intensities of those peaks increase with the particle size, and the spectral shape is maintained. Conversely, σ S in panel (b) shows that the scattering cross-section becomes larger as the inclusions become larger, but a red-shift of the maximum scattering peak for the largest nanospheres occurs.…”

“…However, although this behavior still holds for small inclusions within our model, we observe that the trapping distance (which is invariably larger than that estimated by the Maxwell–Garnett effective medium model) increases with the size of the inclusions, even exceeding that predicted for a homogeneous SiO 2 film (d eq = 80 nm) in the case of very large radii ( r = 100 nm). This counterintuitive result can be ascribed to the outcome of absorption modifications due to single and multiple scattering effects taking place inside the composite material, which adjust ε eff ( iξ ) and F C-L acting on the system 47 and therefore the quantum trapping distance. In contrast, according to results calculated using the Maxwell–Garnett effective medium approximation, porous SiO 2 matrixes containing void pores find the equilibrium position at much larger distances.…”