Casimir force between sharp-shaped conductors

Casimir forces between conductors at the sub-micron scale cannot be ignored in the design and operation of micro-electromechanical (MEM) devices. However, these forces depend non-trivially on geometry, and existing formulae and approximations cannot deal with realistic micro-machinery components wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 108; pp. 6867 - 6871
Main Authors Maghrebi, Mohammad F., Rahi, Sahand Jamal, Emig, Thorsten, Graham, Noah, Jaffe, Robert L., Kardar, Mehran
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published National Academy of Sciences 2011
Subjects
Condensed Matter
High Energy Physics - Theory
Physics
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
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Summary:Casimir forces between conductors at the sub-micron scale cannot be ignored in the design and operation of micro-electromechanical (MEM) devices. However, these forces depend non-trivially on geometry, and existing formulae and approximations cannot deal with realistic micro-machinery components with sharp edges and tips. Here, we employ a novel approach to electromagnetic scattering, appropriate to perfect conductors with sharp edges and tips, specifically to wedges and cones. The interaction of these objects with a metal plate (and among themselves) is then computed systematically by a multiple-scattering series. For the wedge, we obtain analytical expressions for the interaction with a plate, as functions of opening angle and tilt, which should provide a particularly useful tool for the design of MEMs. Our result for the Casimir interactions between conducting cones and plates applies directly to the force on the tip of a scanning tunneling probe; the unexpectedly large temperature dependence of the force in these configurations should attract immediate experimental interest.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490