Ultralong-range Casimir-Lifshitz forces mediated by nanowire materials

作者：Maslovski Stanislav I^*; Silveirinha Mario G

来源：Physical Review A, 2010, 82(2): 022511.

DOI：10.1103/PhysRevA.82.022511

Here, we show that the Casimir-Lifshitz force (either attractive or repulsive) between two planar material slabs embedded in a dense array of silver nanowires is an ultralong-range force that decays with the separation of the bodies, a, as 1/a(2), whereas in an isotropic background it decays as 1/a(4). It is demonstrated that the nanowires effectively channel the quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field through the region between the bodies, boosting in this manner the intensity of the Casimir force at long distances. Moreover, in a configuration involving a stationary planar slab and a spherical object able to slide within the nanowire background (e.g., an air bubble) the dependence of the force on the separation is shown to be 1/a as compared to 1/a(3) in an isotropic background. Our theoretical calculations suggest that a significant repulsive Casimir force can be measured for distances up to 10 mu m in such a scenario.

• 出版日期2010-8-25