CASIMIR EFFECT IN COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTS
- [1] N. Cherroret, R. Guérout, A. Lambrecht, S. Reynaud, Statistical approach to Casimir-Polder potentials in heterogeneous media, Phys. Rev. A 92, 042513 (2015)
- [2] N. Cherroret, R. Guérout, A. Lambrecht, S. Reynaud, Fluctuations of the Casimir potential above a disordered medium, EPJD 69, 99 (2015)
- [3] N. Cherroret, P.-P. Crépin, R. Guérout, A. Lambrecht, S. Reynaud, Casimir-Polder force fluctuations as spatial probes of dissipation in metals, Europhys. Lett. 117 , 63001 (2017)
Casimir interaction between disordered materials
In vacuum, materials brought close to each other experience an attractive Casimir force. In a field theoretical picture, this interaction is associated with the exchange of virtual photons out of the quantum vacuum fluctuations. Since recently, we explore the properties of this force between objects displaying statistical fluctuations stemming from a spatial heterogeneity. Typical problems in this context are the Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and a disordered atomic cloud [1,2], or between a dielectric sphere and a metal displaying mesoscopic current fluctuations [3].
These questions are important for experimental realizations of quantum reflection from Casimir-Polder potentials, and more generally for any measurement of the Casimir force. This activity is conducted in collaboration with the team “Quantum fluctuations and Relativity” at Laboratoire Kastler Brossel.