Casimir micro-sphere diclusters and three-body effects in fluids
Abstract
Our previous article [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 060401 (2010)] predicted that Casimir forces induced by the material-dispersion properties of certain dielectrics can give rise to stable configurations of objects. This phenomenon was illustrated via a dicluster configuration of non-touching objects consisting of two spheres immersed in a fluid and suspended against gravity above a plate. Here, we examine these predictions from the perspective of a practical experiment and consider the influence of non-additive, three-body, and nonzero-temperature effects on the stability of the two spheres. We conclude that the presence of Brownian motion reduces the set of experimentally realizable silicon/teflon spherical diclusters to those consisting of layered micro-spheres, such as the hollow- core (spherical shells) considered here.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1012.0860,
title = {Casimir micro-sphere diclusters and three-body effects in fluids},
author = {Jaime Varela and Alejandro W. Rodriguez and Alexander P. McCauley and Steven G. Johnson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1012.0860},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
11 pages, 9 figures