Phenomenological model for Casimir attraction of a metal film
- 1 December 1999
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Low Temperature Physics
- Vol. 25 (12) , 979-985
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.593851
Abstract
The force of surface interaction (Casimir effect) between a bulk conductor and a metal film deposited on a dielectric substrate is studied by the method of quantum field theory. The film thickness is assumed to be much smaller than the skin depth at characteristic frequencies of fluctuation fields. The equations for one-particle Green’s function of the electromagnetic field in the metal film are solved on the basis of a simple phenomenological model. Namely, complex macroscopic electrodynamic properties of the film are described by introducing the surface permittivity determined by the conductivity 〈σ〉 averaged over sample thickness. The dependence of the Casimir attractive force on the specularity parameter ρ characterizing the interaction of conduction electrons with the film surface is predicted. The results of investigations demonstrate that the electronic and surface properties of metal films can in principle be studied experimentally by measuring the force of their Casimir attraction.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Demonstration of the Casimir Force in the 0.6 toRangePhysical Review Letters, 1997
- Detecting Casimir forces using a tunneling electromechanical transducerPhysics Letters A, 1995
- Casimir energy for dielectrics.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1992
- The conductivity of thin metallic films according to the electron theory of metalsMathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1938