Decoherence versus Dynamical Casimir Effect

By means of two simple examples: phase and amplitude damping, the impact of decoherence on the dynamical Casimir effect is investigated. Even without dissipating energy (i.e., pure phase damping), the amount of created particles can be diminished significantly via the coupling to the environment (reservoir theory) inducing decoherence. For a simple microscopic model, it is demonstrated that spontaneous decays within the medium generate those problems -- Rabi oscillations are far more advantageous in that respect. These findings are particularly relevant in view of a recently proposed experimental verification of the dynamical Casimir effect. PACS: 42.50.Lc, 03.65.Yz, 03.70.+k, 42.50.Dv.