Related papers: The Physics of Atom-Surface Interactions
We calculate the dispersive force between a ground state atom and a non planar surface. We present explicit results for a corrugated surface, derived from the scattering approach at first order in the corrugation amplitude. A variety of…
We present an approach for computing long-range van der Waals (vdW) interactions between complex molecular systems and arbitrarily shaped macroscopic bodies, melding atomistic treatments of electronic fluctuations based on density…
We use molecular simulations to study the nonadhesive and adhesive atomic-scale contact of rough spheres with radii ranging from nanometers to micrometers over more than ten orders of magnitude in applied normal load. At the lowest loads,…
Experiments performed by friction force microscopy at atomic-scale surface steps on graphite, MoS$_2$, and NaCl in ambient conditions are presented. Both step-down and step-up scans exhibit higher frictional forces at the edge, but…
Diffraction of atoms from surfaces provides detailed insights into structures, interactions, and dynamical processes. However, currently the method is limited to measurements in reflection - diffraction through materials has only been…
We propose a new approach to calculate van der Waals forces between nanoparticles where the van der Waals energy can be reduced to the energy of elementary surface plasmon oscillations in nanoparticles. The general theory is applied to…
Until the mystery of confinement is understood from the first principles, so called `soft physics' remains an important area of research, providing valuable information on underlying dynamics of strong interactions at long distances. In…
In the ultra-cold regime Van der Waals forces between neutral atoms can be represented by short range effective interactions. We show that universal low energy scaling features of the underlying vdW long range force stemming from two photon…
Students encounter harmonic-oscillator models in many aspects of basic physics, within widely-varying theoretical contexts. Here we highlight the interconnections and varying points of view. We start with the classical mechanics of masses…
Typically one expects that when a heavy particle collides with a surface, the scattered angular distribution will follow classical mechanics. The heavy mass assures that the de Broglie wavelength of the incident particle in the direction of…
The origin of friction force is a very old problem in physics, which goes back to Leonardo da Vinci or even older times. Extremely important from a practical point of view, but with no satisfactory explanation yet. Many models have been…
We present a full quantum mechanical three dimensional theory describing an electromagnetic field interacting with an ensemble of identical atoms. The theory is constructed such that it describes recent experiments on light-matter quantum…
Interactions between quasiparticles mediated by a surrounding environment are ubiquitous and lead to a range of important effects from collective modes of low temperature quantum gases, superconductivity, to the interaction between…
Friction is one of the fundamental issues in physics, mechanics and material science with lots of practical applications. However, the understanding of macroscopic friction phenomena from microscopic aspect is still on the way. In this…
Particles bound to an interface interact because they deform its shape. The stresses that result are fully encoded in the geometry and described by a divergence-free surface stress tensor. This stress tensor can be used to express the force…
Van der Waals interactions are interactions between dipoles. Similarly, quadrupole-quadrupole interactions are interactions between quadrupoles. In this article, we focus on the interactions between two dipoles or two quadrupoles.…
The dipole approximation is employed to describe interactions between atoms and radiation. It essentially consists of neglecting the spatial variation of the external field over the atom. Heuristically, this is justified by arguing that the…
Microscopic surface diffusivity theory based on atomic ionization energy concept is developed to explain the variations of the atomic and displacement polarizations with respect to the surface diffusion activation energy of adatoms in the…
Using a recently obtained (general) formula for the interaction energy between an excited and a ground-state atom (Sherkunov Y 2007 Phys. Rev. A 75 012705), we consider the interaction energy between two such atoms near the interface…
The atomic dipole polarizability, $\alpha$, and the van der Waals (vdW) radius, $R_{\rm vdW}$, are two key quantities to describe vdW interactions between atoms in molecules and materials. Until now, they have been determined independently…