arXiv subjects

V. M. Mostepanenko

Publications and source records attributed to V. M. Mostepanenko.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Graphene may help to solve the Casimir conundrum in indium tin oxide systems

We reconsider the long-explored problem that the magnitude of the measured Casimir force between an Au sphere and an indium tin oxide (ITO) film decreases significantly with no respective changes in the ITO dielectric permittivity required by the Lifshitz theory. Two plausible resolutions of this conundrum are discussed: the phase transition of an ITO film from metallic to dielectric state and the modification of a film surface under the action of UV light. To exclude the latter option, we propose an improvement in the experimental scheme by adding a graphene sheet on top of an ITO film. The formalism is developed allowing precise calculation of the Casimir force between an Au sphere and a graphene sheet on top of ITO film deposited on a quartz substrate. In doing so Au, ITO, and quartz are described by the frequency-dependent dielectric permittivities and real graphene sheet with nonzero mass-gap parameter and chemical potential by the polarization tensor at nonzero temperature. Numerical computations performed both before and after the phase transition resulting from the UV treatment show that the presence of graphene leads to only a minor decrease in the drop of the Casimir force which remains quite measurable. At the same time, in the presence of graphene the guess that an observed drop originates from the modification of an ITO surface by the UV light breaks down. Similar results are obtained for the configuration of two parallel plates consisting of a graphene sheet, an ITO film and a quartz substrate. The proposed experiments involving additional graphene sheets may help in resolution of the problems arising in application of the Lifshitz theory to real materials.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2018

Optical chopper driven by the Casimir force

We propose the experimental scheme and present detailed theory of the optical chopper which functionality is based on the balance between the Casimir and light pressures. The proposed device consists of two atomically thin metallic mirrors forming the Fabry-Pérot microfilter. One of the mirrors is deposited on a solid cube and another one on a thinner wall subjected to bending under the influence of the attractive Casimir force and repulsive force due to the pressure of light from a continuous laser amplified in the resonator of a microfilter. The separation distance between the mirrors should only slightly exceed the half wavelength of the laser light. It is shown that in this case the resonance condition in the microfilter alternatively obeys and breaks down resulting in the periodic pulses of the transmitted light. The Casimir pressure is calculated taking into account an anisotropy of the dielectric permittivity of a metal at several first Matsubara frequencies. The reflectivity properties of atomically thin metallic mirrors in the optical spectral range are found using the experimentally consistent phenomenological approach developed earlier in the literature. The specific values of all parameters, found for the microfilter made of quartz glass with Ag mirrors, demonstrate its workability. The proposed optical chopper may find prospective applications in the emerging field of nanotechnology exploiting the effects of quantum fluctuations.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Maximum reflectance and transmittance of films coated with gapped graphene in the context of Dirac model

The analytic expressions for the maximum and minimum reflectance of optical films coated with gapped graphene are derived in the application region of the Dirac model with account of multiple reflections. The respective film thicknesses are also found. In so doing the film material is described by the frequency-dependent index of refraction and graphene by the polarization tensor defined along the real frequency axis. The developed formalism is illustrated by an example of the graphene-coated film made of amorphous silica. Numerical computations of the maximum and minimum reflectances and respective film thicknesses are performed at room temperature in two frequency regions belonging to the near-infrared and far-infrared domains. It is shown that in the far-infrared domain the graphene coating makes a profound effect on the values of maximum reflectance and respective film thickness leading to a relative increase of their values by up to 65% and 50%, respectively. The maximum transmittance of a graphene-coated film of appropriately chosen thickness is shown to exceed 90%. Possible applications of the obtained results are discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Kramers-Kronig relations and causality conditions for graphene in the framework of the Dirac model

We analyze the concept of causality for the conductivity of graphene described by the Dirac model. It is recalled that the condition of causality leads to the analyticity of conductivity in the upper half-plane of complex frequencies and to the standard symmetry properties for its real and imaginary parts. This results in the Kramers-Kronig relations, which explicit form depends on whether the conductivity has no pole at zero frequency (as in the case of zero temperature when the band gap of graphene is larger than twice the chemical potential) or it has a pole (as in all other cases, specifically, at nonzero temperature). Through the direct analytic calculation it is shown that the real and imaginary parts of graphene conductivity, found recently on the basis of first principles of thermal quantum field theory using the polarization tensor in (2+1)-dimensional space-time, satisfy the Kramers-Kronig relations precisely. In so doing, the values of two integrals in the commonly used tables, which are also important for a wider area of dispersion relations in quantum field theory and elementary particle physics, are corrected. The obtained results are not of only fundamental theoretical character, but can be used as a guideline in testing the validity of different phenomenological approaches and for the interpretation of experimental data.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Reducing detrimental electrostatic effects in Casimir-force measurements and Casimir-force-based microdevices

It is well known that residual electrostatic forces create significant difficulties to precise measurements of the Casimir force and to wide use of Casimir-operated microdevices. We experimentally demonstrate that with the help of Ar-ion cleaning of the surfaces it is possible to make electrostatic effects negligibly small as compared to the Casimir interaction. Our experimental setup consists of the dynamic atomic force microscope supplemented with an Ar-ion gun and argon reservoir. The residual potential difference between the Au-coated surfaces of a sphere and a plate was measured both before and after the in situ Ar-ion cleaning. It is shown that this cleaning decreases the magnitude of the residual potential by up to an order of magnitude and makes it almost independent on separation. The gradient of the Casimir force was measured using ordinary samples subjected to the Ar-ion cleaning. The obtained results are shown to be in good agreement with both previous precision measurements using the specially selected samples and with theoretical predictions of the Lifshitz theory. The conclusion is made that the suggested method of in situ Ar-ion cleaning is effective in reducing the electrostatic effects and therefore is a great resource for experiments on measuring the Casimir interaction and for Casimir-operated microdevices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Influence of chemical potential on the Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and gapped graphene or graphene-coated substrate

We present a formalism based on first principles of quantum electrodynamics at nonzero temperature which permits to calculate the Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and a graphene sheet with arbitrary mass gap and chemical potential, including graphene-coated substrates. The free energy and force of the Casimir-Polder interaction are expressed via the polarization tensor of graphene in (2+1)-dimensional space-time in the framework of the Dirac model. The obtained expressions are used to investigate the influence of the chemical potential of graphene on the Casimir-Polder interaction. Computations are performed for an atom of metastable helium interacting with either a free-standing graphene sheet or a graphene-coated substrate made of amorphous silica. It is shown that the impacts of the nonzero chemical potential and the mass gap on the Casimir-Polder interaction are in opposite directions by increasing and decreasing the magnitudes of the free energy and force, respectively. It turns out, however, that the temperature-dependent part of the Casimir-Polder interaction is decreased by a nonzero chemical potential, whereas the mass gap increases it compared to the case of undoped, gapless graphene. The physical explanation for these effects is provided. Numerical computations of the Casimir-Polder interaction are performed at various temperatures and atom-graphene separations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Nonperturbative theory of atom-surface interaction: Corrections at short separations

The nonperturbative expressions for the free energy and force of interaction between a ground-state atom and a real-material surface at any temperature are presented. The transition to the Matsubara representation is performed, whereupon the comparison is made with the commonly used perturbative results based on the standard Lifshitz theory. It is shown that the Lifshitz formulas for the free energy and force of an atom-surface interaction follow from the nonperturbative ones in the lowest order of the small parameter. Numerical computations of the free energy and force for the atoms of He${}^{\ast}$ and Na interacting with a surface of an Au plate have been performed using the frequency-dependent dielectric permittivity of Au and highly accurate dynamic atomic polarizabilities in the framework of both the nonperturbative and perturbative theories. According to our results, the maximum deviations between the two theories are reached at the shortest atom-surface separations of about 1nm. Simple analytic expressions for the atom-surface free energy are derived in the classical limit and for an ideal-metal plane. In the lowest order of the small parameter, they are foundX// in agreement with the perturbative ones following from the standard Lifshitz theory. Possible applications of the obtained results in the theory of van der Waals adsorption are discussed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Conductivity of graphene in the framework of Dirac model: Interplay between nonzero mass gap and chemical potential

The complete theory of electrical conductivity of graphene at arbitrary temperature is developed with taken into account mass-gap parameter and chemical potential. Both the in-plane and out-of-plane conductivities of graphene are expressed via the components of the polarization tensor in (2+1)-dimensional space-time analytically continued to the real frequency axis. Simple analytic expressions for both the real and imaginary parts of the conductivity of graphene are obtained at zero and nonzero temperature. They demonstrate an interesting interplay depending on the values of mass gap and chemical potential. In the local limit, several results obtained earlier using various approximate and phenomenological approaches are reproduced, refined and generalized. The numerical computations of both the real and imaginary parts of the conductivity of graphene are performed to illustrate the obtained results. The analytic expressions for the conductivity of graphene obtained in this paper can serve as a guide in the comparison between different theoretical approaches and between experiment and theory.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Thermal effect in the Casimir force for graphene and graphene-coated substrates: Impact of nonzero mass gap and chemical potential

The rigorous finite-temperature QED formalism of the polarization tensor is used to study the combined effect of nonzero mass gap $m$ and chemical potential $μ$ on the Casimir force and its thermal correction in the experimentally relevant configuration of a Au sphere interacting with a real graphene sheet or with graphene-coated dielectric substrates made of different materials. It is shown that for both a free-standing graphene sheet and for graphene-coated substrates the magnitude of the Casimir force decreases as $m$ is increased, while it increases as $μ$ is increased, indicating that these parameters act in opposite directions. According to our results, the impact of $m$ and/or $μ$ on the Casimir force for graphene-coated plates is much smaller than for a free-standing graphene sheet. Furthermore, computations show that the Casimir force is much stronger for graphene-coated substrates than for a free-standing graphene sample, but the thermal correction and its fractional weight in the total force are smaller in the former case. These results are applied to a differential setup that was recently proposed to observe the giant thermal effect in the Casimir force for graphene. We show that this experiment remains feasible even after taking into account the influence of the nonzero mass-gap and chemical potential of real graphene samples. Possible further applications of the obtained results are discussed.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2017

How to observe the giant thermal effect in the Casimir force for graphene systems

A differential measurement scheme is proposed which allows for a clear observation of the giant thermal effect for the Casimir force, that was recently predicted to occur in graphene systems at short separation distances. The difference among the Casimir forces acting between a metal-coated sphere and the two halves of a dielectric plate, one uncoated and the other coated with graphene, is calculated in the framework of the Dirac model using the rigorous formalism of the polarization tensor. It is shown that in the proposed configuration both the difference among the Casimir forces and its thermal contributioncan be easily measured using already existing experimental setups. An observation of the giant thermal effect should open opportunities for modulation and control of dispersion forces in micromechanical systems based on graphene and other novel 2D-materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Universal experimental test for the role of free charge carriers in thermal Casimir effect within a micrometer separation range

We propose a universal experiment to measure the differential Casimir force between a Au-coated sphere and two halves of a structured plate covered with a P-doped Si overlayer. The concentration of free charge carriers in the overlayer is chosen slightly below the critical one, f or which the phase transition from dielectric to metal occurs. One ha f of the structured plate is insulating, while its second half is made of gold. For the former we consider two different structures, one consisting of bulk high-resistivity Si and the other of a layer of silica followed by bulk high-resistivity Si. The differential Casimir force is computed within the Lifshitz theory using four approaches that have been proposed in the literature to account for the role of free charge carriers in metallic and dielectric materials interacting with quantum fluctuations. According to these approaches, Au at low frequencies is described by either the Drude or the plasma model, whereas the free charge carriers in dielectric materials at room temperature are either taken into account or disregarded. It is shown that the values of differential Casimir forces, computed in the micrometer separation range using these four approaches, are widely distinct from each other and can be easily discriminated experimentally. It is shown that for all approaches the thermal component of the differential Casimir force is sufficiently large for direct observation. The possible errors and uncertainties in the proposed experiment are estimated and its importance for the theory of quantum fluctuations is discussed.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2017

Casimir free energy of dielectric films: Classical limit, low-temperature behavior and control

The Casimir free energy of dielectric films, both free-standing in vacuum and deposited on metallic or dielectric plates, is investigated. It is shown that the values of the free energy depend considerably on whether the calculation approach used neglects or takes into account the dc conductivity of film material. We demonstrate that there are the material-dependent and universal classical limits in the former and latter cases, respectively. The analytic behavior of the Casimir free energy and entropy for a free-standing dielectric film at low temperature in found. According to our results, the Casimir entropy goes to zero when the temperature vanishes if the calculation approach with neglected dc conductivity of a film is employed. If the dc conductivity is taken into account, the Casimir entropy takes the positive value at zero temperature, depending on the parameters of a film, i.e., the Nernst heat theorem is violated. By considering the Casimir free energy of silica and sapphire films deposited on a Au plate in the framework of two calculation approaches, we argue that physically correct values are obtained by disregarding the role of dc conductivity. A comparison with the well known results for the configuration of two parallel plates is made. Finally, we compute the Casimir free energy of silica, sapphire and Ge films deposited on high-resistivity Si plates of different thicknesses and demonstrate that it can be positive, negative and equal to zero. Possible applications of the obtained results to thin films used in microelectronics are discussed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Constraints on axion-like particles and non-Newtonian gravity from measuring the difference of Casimir forces

We derive constraints on the coupling constants of axion-like particles to nucleons and on the Yukawa-type corrections to Newton's gravitational law from the results of recent experiment on measuring the difference of Casimir forces between a Ni-coated sphere and Au and Ni sectors of a structured disc. Over the wide range of axion masses from 2.61\,meV to 0.9\,eV the obtained constraints on the axion-to-nucleon coupling are up to a factor of 14.6 stronger than all previously known constraints following from experiments on measuring the Casimir interaction. The constraints on non-Newtonian gravity found here are also stronger than all that following from the Casimir and Cavendish-type experiments over the interaction range from 30\,nm to $5.4\,μ$m. They are up to a factor of 177 stronger than the constraints derived recently from measuring the difference of lateral forces. Our constraints confirm previous somewhat stronger limits obtained from the isoelectronic experiment, where the contribution of the Casimir force was nullified.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Low-temperature behavior of the Casimir free energy and entropy of metallic films

We derive an analytic behavior of the Casimir free energy, entropy and pressure of metallic films in vacuum at low temperature. It is shown that this behavior differs significantly depending on whether the plasma or the Drude model is used to describe the dielectric properties of film metal. For metallic films described by the lossless plasma model the thermal corrections to the Casimir energy and pressure drop to zero exponentially fast with increasing film thickness. There is no classical limit in this case. The Casimir entropy satisfies the Nernst heat theorem. For metallic films with perfect crystal lattices described by the Drude model the Casimir entropy at zero temperature takes a nonzero value depending on the parameters of a film, i.e., the Nernst heat theorem is violated. The Casimir entropy at zero temperature is positive, as opposed to the case of two metallic plates separated with a vacuum gap, where it is negative if the Drude model is used. Possible applications of the obtained results in investigations of stability of thin films are discussed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Optical properties of dielectric plates coated with gapped graphene

The optical properties of dielectric plates coated with gapped graphene are investigated on the basis of first principles of quantum electrodynamics. The reflection coefficients and reflectivities of graphene-coated plates are expressed in terms of the polarization tensor of gapped graphene and the dielectric permittivity of plate material. Simple approximate expressions for the required combinations of components of the polarization tensor applicable in the wide frequency region, where the presence of a gap influences the optical properties, are found. Numerical computations of the reflectivities of graphene-coated SiO${}_2$ plates are performed for different values of the mass-gap parameter at different temperatures. It is shown that with an increasing gap width the reflectivity of a graphene-coated plate at the normal incidence decreases by up to a factor of 8 depending on the values of frequency and mass-gap parameter. The angle dependences of reflectivities for both polarizations of the incident electromagnetic waves have been computed for Si and SiO${}_2$ plates coated with gapped graphene. We demonstrate that the TM reflectivity has a minimum value at some angle of incidence depending on the mass-gap parameter, frequency and temperature, whereas the TE reflectivity depends on the angle of incidence monotonously. However, for the graphene coatings with a nonzero mass-gap parameter the reflected light cannot be fully polarized. Possible applications of the obtained results are discussed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Quantum electrodynamic approach to the conductivity of gapped graphene

The electrical conductivity of graphene with a nonzero mass-gap parameter is investigated starting from the first principles of quantum electrodynamics in (2+1)-dimensional space-time at any temperature. The formalism of the polarization tensor defined over the entire plane of complex frequency is used. At zero temperature we reproduce the results for both real and imaginary parts of the conductivity, obtained previously in the local approximation, and generalize them taking into account the effects of nonlocality. At nonzero temperature the exact analytic expressions for real and imaginary parts of the longitudinal and transverse conductivities of gapped graphene are derived, as well as their local limits and approximate expressions in several asymptotic regimes. Specifically, a simple local result for the real part of conductivity of gapped graphene valid at any temperature is obtained. According to our results, the real part of the conductivity is not equal to zero for frequencies exceeding the width of the gap and goes to the universal conductivity with increasing frequency. The imaginary part of conductivity of gapped graphene varies from infinity at zero frequency to minus infinity at the frequency defined by the gap parameter and then goes to zero with further increase of frequency. The analytic expressions are accompanied by the results of numerical computations. Possible future generalization of the used formalism is discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Nernst heat theorem for the thermal Casimir interaction between two graphene sheets

We find analytic asymptotic expressions at low temperature for the Casimir free energy, entropy and pressure of two parallel graphene sheets in the framework of the Lifshitz theory. The reflection coefficients of electromagnetic waves on graphene are described on the basis of first principles of quantum electrodynamics at nonzero temperature using the polarization tensor in (2+1)-dimensional space-time. The leading contributions to the Casimir entropy and to the thermal corrections to the Casimir energy and pressure are given by the thermal correction to the polarization tensor at nonzero Matsubara frequencies. It is shown that the Casimir entropy for two graphene sheets goes to zero when the temperature vanishes, i.e., the third law of thermodynamics (the Nernst heat theorem) is satisfied. At low temperature, the magnitude of the thermal correction to the Casimir pressure between two graphene sheets is shown to vary inversely proportional to the separation. The Nernst heat theorem for graphene is discussed in the context of problems occurring in Casimir physics for both metallic and dielectric plates.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Constraining axion coupling constants from measuring the Casimir interaction between polarized test bodies

We propose an experiment for measuring the effective Casimir pressure between two parallel SiC plates with aligned nuclear spins. The prospective constraints on an axion-neutron coupling constant for both hadronic and GUT axions are calculated using the process of one-axion exchange. For this purpose, a general expression for the additional pressure arising between two polarized plates due to the exchange of one axion between their constituent fermions is derived. We demonstrate that only the polarization component perpendicular to the plates contribute to the pressure. The obtained pressure can be both repulsive and attractive depending on whether the polarizations of both plates are unidirectional or directed in opposite directions. It is shown that although the constraints on an axion-electron coupling obtained in the case of magnetized plates are not competitive, the constraints on an axion-neutron coupling found for plates with polarized nuclear spins are of the same order of magnitude of those obtained previously for the GUT axions alone using the process of two-axion exchange. The proposed experiment allows also to strengthen the presently known constraints on the axion-neutron coupling constants of GUT axions by using both processes of one- and two-axion exchange.

hep-ph↗