Can Surface Plasmons tune the Casimir Forces between Metamaterials?

Francesco Intravaia and Carsten Henkel

Institut fuer Physik und Astronomie, Universitaet Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany

Summary. The Casimir force is signicantly modied for mirrors made from metamaterials. It becomes much smaller in magnitude and may reverse its sign. This would certainly be important to prevent sticking phenomena of mobile elements in micro-electro-mechanical systems. We link this behavior to the surface plasmon-polariton modes which are showed to play a fundamental role in the system. This selects them as a possible candidate to further tune the strength and the sign of Casimir force.

The Casimir effect and Metamaterials

Casimir Effect and Metamaterial

Metamaterial Continuum
2.0

Fluctuating Field

The Casimir effect is the archetype of macroscopic effects of vacuum uctuations. It was discovered in 1948 by Hendrik Casimir. He calculated the force at zero temperature between two plane parallel mirrors placed at a distance L [1].
F 2 c 0.13 N = = A 240 L4 (L/m)4 cm2

RH Material

1.5

This is a characteristic structure of this conguration. It corresponds to a mode continuum bounded from the dispersion relations obtained solving the equation:

Reststrahlen Band

1.0

LH Material

2 ()() k 2 = 0 c2
The modes in this continuum propagate in the metamaterial (behaving like a left or right handed material) but the can be either evanescent or propagating in the vacuum between the two mirrors.

RH Material

0.5

Evanescent

Metal

3x10

-4

8x10
2 FL /(h r)

-3

6 4 2 0 -2

(a)

(b)

2 FL /(h r)

0.001

0.1

10

1000

L/

(b) 0 (d)

Previous work Metamaterial has shown that this force can be signicantly tuned and even made to reverse its sign, using bulk or layered metamaterials [29]: repulsion is achieved in a mixed conguration, that is when only one of the plates is made by a metamaterial [3].

0.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

k r

Position Sensor

Mode Anatomy of the Casimir Effect

Casimir Force

The Casimir energy for the conguration including a metamaterial mirror can be decomposed in different contributions. Here we present them normalized with respect to :

-1

-2 10
-3

(c) 10
-1

L/

10

10

Casimir force between planar mirrors of different dispersive materials at zero temperature (from [2]).

This prediction is currently an experimental challenge because metamaterials with high-frequency resonances are needed, i.e. with small-scale building blocks (size << L).

A schematic conguration in which a nanostructured surface could lead to a repulsive Casimir force (here measured with an atomic force microscope)

c 2 A ECas (r ) = , 3 720 r

2r r = c

(resonance wavelength)

Casimir Effect and Metallic Plasmons

0

The TE surface polariton mode is antibinding and leads to a repulsive force. At short distance it is responsible of the main contribution to the TE part of the total energy although the contribution of the other modes (bulk, propagating) cannot be neglected.

100

TE surface polariton TE polarization all modes

400 350 300 250 200

E EC r

0.01

15

() = 1
10

p =

2c p

2 p 2 , () = 1 M p P = PMP /PCas

Repulsion Attraction

It has been shown that, for two parallel metallic mirrors, surface plasmons gives rise, to a repulsive contribution to the Casimir force [4,5].

E log[L/r ], for L/r

10

150 2 10
5

5 10

1 10

2 10

5 10

0.001

10

0.001

0.01

0.1

10

L r

MP p L P

Plasmonic mode dispersion relations for the twometallic-mirror conguration [4,5].

The total force is always attractive but this result heavily relies L on the planar symmetry and one might hope to affect the sign of the Casimir force by enhance the plasmonic repulsive contribution, e.g., by using nanostructured metallic surfaces.
0 10
4

E EC r

E r L

The TM surface polaritons dominate all other TM polarized modes. A small repulsion occurs for distance of the order of the resonance wavelength. At short distance they give rise to an attractive force.

TM polarization all modes

2 10
8

TM surface polariton

0.0 0.1 4 108 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

0.001

0.01

0.1

10

E r /L , for L/r
2
z

6 108

E = E/ECas
10
4

0.001

0.01

0.1

10

8 108 10
4

0.001

0.01

0.1

10

L r

Coupled plasmonic modes [4,5].

0

Effective medisum and mixed conguration

2 2 () = 1 2 and () = 1 2 2 2 r r

EM EC r

Contrary to natural ones, metamaterials are made of micro- or mesoscopic metallic structures that confer them a strong magnetic response.
4

The metamaterial continuum gives rise at short distance to an attractive or repulsive force depending on the polarization. It oscillates for distance of the order of the resonance wavelength (standing waves).

50

TE continuum
0 100 200 300

Attraction

100

150

200

250 10 300
4

0.001

0.01

0.1

TM continuum
0.00 0.05 0.10

Repulsion
0.15 0.20

An effective medium approach is used: both the dielectric function and the magnetic permeability of the metamateral depend on the frequency. The Drude-Lorentz functional is taken, allowing therefore for resonance frequencies (here supposed overlapping for simplicity). We investigate here the plasmon-polariton contribution to the zero temperature Casimir effect in a mixed conguration (metallic plate + metamaterial plate). This exotic conguration gives rise to a richer zoology of polaritonic modes, which has no equivalent in conguration involving metallic plates.

Right Handed Material refractive Index Re n

2

The Polaritonic contribution

Left Handed Material

L r

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Total Casimir Force

0.0

Refractive index of a metamateraial with dielectric function and magnetic permeability given by the Drude-Lorentz model.

Attraction
0.4

Suface Polariton dispersion relations

TE Polarization
2.0

P r L

0.2

TM Polarization Antibinding
0.2 0.0

TE Polarization

TM Polarization
2.0

Repulsion Polaritonic contribution

TM Polarization Binding

0.4

0.2 0.4

RH Material

RH Material

0.6
1.5

1.5

0.6
Shifted polariton Reststrahlen Band

0.001

0.01

0.1

Coupled polariton Reststrahlen Band

L r
10
4

L 2 c P = p ( ) r 240 L4
0.01 0.1 1 10

1.0

LH Material

1.0

LH Material Isolated polariton RH Material

0.001

L r

RH Material

Isolated polariton

0.5

0.5

Evanescent L 0.016 r
0.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Evanescent L 0.16 r
0.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Our calculations show that the polaritonic contribution is responsible for the change in sign of the Casimir force between a metallic and a metamaterial mirror. For L r/5 the binding TM polariton, which dominates at short distance, is overwhelmed by the joint repulsion due to the antibinding TM and TE polaritons. This shows that, also for a mixed conguration, surface plasmons are crucial in determining not only the strength and the sign of the Casimir interaction. An engineered polaritonic contribution could further tune the strength and the sign of Casimir force (corrugation/supercell).
References
[1] H.Casimir, Proc. kon. Ned. Ak. Wet (1948) 51 [2] T. H. Boyer, Phys. Rev. A 9 (1974) 2078; O. Kenneth, I. Klich, A. Mann, and M. Revzen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 (2002) 033001 [3] C. Henkel and K. Joulain, Europhys. Lett. 72 (2005) 929 [4] F. Intravaia, C. Henkel and A. Lambrecht, Phys. Rev. A 76 (2007) 033820 [5] C. Henkel, K. Joulain, J.-P. Mulet, and J.-J. Greffet, Phys. Rev. A 69 (2004) 023808 [6] F. Intravaia and A. Lambrecht, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 110404 [7] U. Leonhardt and T. G. Philbin, New J. Phys. 9 (2007) 254 [8] A. Lambrecht and I. G. Pirozhenko, Phys. Rev. A 78 (2008) 062102 [9] F. S. S. Rosa, D. A. R. Dalvit and P. W. Milonni, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 (2008) 183602 [10] V. M. Mostepanenko et al, J. Phys. A 39 (2006) 6589-66009
"New Frontiers in Casimir Force Control", Santa Fe NM, 27 - 29 September 2009

k r

k r

The TE polarization shows a mode in the evanescent region. This modes has analogies with the the antibinding mode in the twometallic-mirror conguration. It crosses the light cone to take values in the propagating region. Both the coupled and the corresponding isolated plasmon-polariton modes stop at the frontier of the metamaterial continuum.

With full analogy with the two-metallic-mirror conguration the TM polarization shows two plasmon-polariton modes, one living in the evanescent region, the other crossing the light cone to take values in the propagating region. The limit for the existence of these modes are set by the metamaterial continuum.

E-mail: francesco.intravaia@qipc.org Website: http://www.quantum.physik.uni-potsdam.de/