Related papers: Effective forces between colloids at interfaces in…
In a recent Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 156101 (2009)], we presented experiments on critical Casimir induced colloidal aggregation in a system with negligibly small van der Waals forces. We presented a simple model based on a competition…
Quantum theory predicts the existence of the Casimir force between macroscopic bodies, due to the zero-point energy of electromagnetic field modes around them. This quantum fluctuation-induced force has been experimentally observed for…
We consider the Casimir interaction between a cylinder and a hollow cylinder, both conducting, with parallel axis and slightly different radii. The Casimir force, which vanishes in the coaxial situation, is evaluated for both small and…
We investigate the force between plasmonic nanoparticle and highly excited two-level system (molecule). Usually van der Waals force between nanoscale electrically neutral systems is monotonic and attractive at moderate and larger distances…
We report on the effect of intermolecular forces on the fluctuations of supported liquid films. Using an optically-induced thermal gradient, we form nanometer-thin films of wetting liquids on glass substrates, where van der Waals forces are…
This paper presents a new method for the efficient numerical computation of Casimir interactions between objects of arbitrary geometries, composed of materials with arbitrary frequency-dependent electrical properties. Our method formulates…
The force experienced by objects embedded in a correlated medium undergoing thermal fluctuations--the so-called fluctuation--induced force--is actually itself a fluctuating quantity. We compute the corresponding probability distribution and…
An interface between two miscible fluids is transient, existing as a non-equilibrium state before complete molecular mixing is reached. However, during the existence of such an interface, which typically be at short timescales, composition…
We study the quantum forces that act between two nearby conductors due to electronic tunneling. We derive an expression for these forces by calculating the flux of momentum arising from the overlap of evanescent electronic fields. Our…
In Binder's approach the reduced interface tension sigma of the Ising model in the broken phase is determined from the finite volume effects of the partition function Z(M) at fixed total magnetization M. For small |M| the partition function…
Critical Casimir interactions represent a perfect example of bath-induced forces at mesoscales. These forces may have a relevant role in the living systems as well as a role in the design of nanomachines fueled by environmental…
The high-temperature aspects of the Casimir force between two neutral conducting walls are studied. The mathematical model of "inert" ideal-conductor walls, considered in the original formulations of the Casimir effect, is based on the…
Free surfaces of liquids exhibit thermally excited (capillary) surface waves. We show that the surface roughness which results from capillary waves when a glassy material is cooled below the glass transition temperature can have a large…
Colloids immersed in a critical or near-critical binary liquid mixture and close to a chemically patterned substrate are subject to normal and lateral critical Casimir forces of dominating strength. For a single colloid we calculate these…
The Casimir force between bodies in vacuum can be understood as arising from their interaction with an infinite number of fluctuating electromagnetic quantum vacuum modes, resulting in a complex dependence on the shape and material of the…
The motion of a gas-liquid interface along a solid wall is influenced by the capillary forces resulting from the interface's shape and its interaction with the solid, where it forms a dynamic contact angle. Capillary models play a…
We consider the Asakura-Oosawa model of hard sphere colloids and ideal polymers in contact with a porous matrix modeled by immobilized configurations of hard spheres. For this ternary mixture a fundamental measure density functional theory…
The capillary forces exerted by liquid drops and bubbles on a soft solid are directly measured using molecular dynamics simulations. The force on the solid by the liquid near the contact line is not oriented along the liquid vapor interface…
We examine fluctuation-induced (pseudo-Casimir) interactions in nematic liquid-crystalline films confined between two surfaces, where one of the surfaces imposes a strong homeotropic anchoring (ensuring a uniform mean director profile),…
The active motion of phoretic colloids leads them to accumulate at boundaries and interfaces. Such an excess accumulation, with respect to their passive counterparts, makes the dynamics of phoretic colloids particularly sensitive to the…