No Arabic abstract
We study the thermal fluctuation induced interactions between two surfaces containing Brownian charges which are held at different temperatures. Using a dynamical form of Debye-Huckel theory implemented within the stochastic equation for the density of mobile Brownian charges, we derive expressions for the average force between the two surfaces as well as its variance. The latter is found both for the normal, of finite mean, as well as the lateral force, of zero mean, between the surfaces.
We investigate the dynamics of thermal Casimir interactions between plates described within a living conductor model, with embedded mobile anions and cations, whose density field obeys a stochastic partial differential equation which can be derived starting from the Langevin equations of the individual particles. This model describes the thermal Casimir interaction in the same way that the fluctuating dipole model describes van der Waals interactions. The model is analytically solved in a Debye-Huckel-like approximation. We identify several limiting dynamical regimes where the time dependence of the thermal Casimir interactions can be obtained explicitly. Most notably we find a regime with diffusive scaling, even though the charges are confined to the plates and do not diffuse into the intervening space, which makes the diffusive scaling difficult to anticipate and quite unexpected on physical grounds.
In net-neutral systems correlations between charge fluctuations generate strong attractive thermal Casimir forces and engineering these forces to optimize nanodevice performance is an important challenge. We show how the normal and lateral thermal Casimir forces between two plates containing Brownian charges can be modulated by decorrelating the system through the application of an electric field, which generates a nonequilibrium steady state with a constant current in one or both plates, reducing the ensuing fluctuation-generated normal force while at the same time generating a lateral drag force. This hypothesis is confirmed by detailed numerical simulations as well as an analytical approach based on stochastic density functional theory.
We investigate in detail the Casimir torque induced by quantum vacuum fluctuations between two nanostructured plates. Our calculations are based on the scattering approach and take into account the coupling between different modes induced by the shape of the surface which are neglected in any sort of proximity approximation or effective medium approach. We then present an experimental setup aiming at measuring this torque.
We study the thermal Casimir effect between two thick slabs composed of plane-parallel layers of random dielectric materials interacting across an intervening homogeneous dielectric. It is found that the effective interaction at long distances is self averaging and is given by a description in terms of effective dielectric functions. The behavior at short distances becomes random (sample dependent) and is dominated by the local values of the dielectric function proximal to each other across the dielectrically homogeneous slab.
A 1D model of interacting particles moving over a periodic substrate and in a position dependent temperature profile is considered. When the substrate and the temperature profile are spatially asymmetric a center-of-mass velocity develops, corresponding to a directed transport of the chain. This autonomous system can thus transform heath currents into motion. The model parameters can be tuned such that the particles exhibit a crossover from an ordered configuration on the substrate to a disordered one, the maximal motor effect being reached in such a disordered phase. In this case the manybody motor outperforms the single motor system, showing the great importance of collective effects in microscopic thermal devices. Such collective effects represent thus a free resource that can be exploited to enhance the dynamic and thermodynamic performances in microscopic machines.