Casimir Force between a Small Dielectric Sphere and a Dielectric Wall

Details Casimir Force between a Small Dielectric Sphere and a Dielectric Wall Casimir Force between a Small Dielectric Sphere and a Dielectric Wall

2004-06-01

arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0406012v1

Phys.Rev. A70 (2004) 062109

Physics

Quantum Physics

16 pages, 5 figures

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevA.70.062109

The possibility of repulsive Casimir forces between small metal spheres and a dielectric half-space is discussed. We treat a model in which the spheres have a dielectric function given by the Drude model, and the radius of the sphere is small compared to the corresponding plasma wavelength. The half-space is also described by the same model, but with a different plasma frequency. We find that in the retarded limit, the force is quasi-oscillatory. This leads to the prediction of stable equilibrium points at which the sphere could levitate in the Earth's gravitational field. This seems to lead to the possibility of an experimental test of the model. The effects of finite temperature on the force are also studied, and found to be rather small at room temperature. However, thermally activated transitions between equilibrium points could be significant at room temperature.

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