Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 11: Quanteneffekte (QED)
Q 11.4: Talk
Monday, March 19, 2007, 15:00–15:15, 5E
Body-assisted van der Waals interaction between two atoms — •Hassan Safari1, Stefan Yoshi Buhmann1, Dirk-Gunnar Welsch1, and Ho Trung Dung2 — 1Theoretisch-Physicalisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany — 2Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences and Technology, 1 Mac Dinh Chi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
It is well known that the vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field can cause an interaction between electrically neutral, but polarizable particles, commonly referred to as the van der Waals (vdW) interaction. When the two atoms are not in free space, but placed within a nontrivial magnetoelectric environment, then the vdW interaction can be substantially modified.
Using fourth-order perturbation theory, a general formula for the vdW interaction potential between two neutral, electrically polarizable, ground-state atoms in the presence of an arbitrary arrangement of magnetoelectric bodies is derived. The theory is applied to two atoms in the presence of a planar multilayer system (with special emphasis on the perfectly reflecting plate and half space) and in the presence of a sphere. It is shown that in the nonretarded limit, the modification of the vdW interaction due to the presence of a perfectly reflecting plate can be understood by using the method of image charges.