Tuning the Casimir-Lifshitz force with gapped metals
Boström, Mathias; Rizwan Khan, M.; Gopidi, H. R.; Brevik, Iver Håkon; Li, Y.; Persson, Clas; Malyi, O. I.
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3121389Utgivelsesdato
2023Metadata
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Originalversjon
10.1103/PhysRevB.108.165306Sammendrag
The Casimir-Lifshitz interaction, a long-range force that arises between solids and molecules due to quantum fluctuations in electromagnetic fields, has been widely studied in solid-state physics. The degree of polarization in this interaction is influenced by the dielectric properties of the materials involved, which in turn are determined by factors such as band-to-band transitions, free carrier contributions, phonon contributions, and exciton contributions. Gapped metals, a new class of materials with unique electronic structures, offer the potential to manipulate dielectric properties and, consequently, the Casimir-Lifshitz interaction. In this study, we theoretically investigate the finite temperature Casimir-Lifshitz interaction in La3Te4-based gapped metal systems with varying off-stoichiometry levels. We demonstrate that off-stoichiometric effects in gapped metals can be used to control the magnitude and, in some cases, even the sign of Casimir-Lifshitz interactions. We predict measurable corrections due to stoichiometry on the predicted Casimir force between a La3Te4 surface and a gold sphere, attached to an atomic force microscopy tip.