arXiv · 1605.06056
Casimir-Polder Shift and Decay Rate in the Presence of Nonreciprocal Media
Abstract
We calculate the Casimir-Polder frequency shift and decay rate for an atom in front of a nonreciprocal medium by using macroscopic quantum electrodynamics. The results are a generalization of the respective quantities for matter with broken time-reversal symmetry which does not fulfill the Lorentz reciprocity principle. As examples, we contrast the decay rates, the resonant and nonresonant frequency shifts of a perfectly conducting (reciprocal) mirror to those of a perfectly reflecting nonreciprocal mirror. We find different power laws for the distance dependence of all quantities in the retarded and nonretarded limits. As an example of a more realistic nonreciprocal medium, we investigate a topological insulator subject to a time-symmetry breaking perturbation.
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Sebastian Fuchs, J. A. Crosse, Stefan Yoshi Buhmann. 2016-05-19. Casimir-Polder Shift and Decay Rate in the Presence of Nonreciprocal Media. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.95.023805
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