Casimir Forces between Nanoparticles and Substrates

Roman-Velazquez, C. E.; Noguez, Cecilia; Villarreal, C.; Esquivel-Sirvent, R.

Casimir Forces between Nanoparticles and Substrates

Authors

Roman-Velazquez, C. E.

Noguez, Cecilia

Villarreal, C.

Esquivel-Sirvent, R.

Description

We study the Casimir force between a nanoparticle and a substrate. We consider the interaction of metal nanoparticles with different substrates within the dipolar approximation. We study the force as a function of the distance for gold and potassium spheres, which are over a substrate of titanium dioxide, sapphire and a perfect conductor. We show that Casimir force is important in systems at the nanometer scale. We study the force as a function of the material properties, radii of the spheres, and the distance between the sphere and the substrate.
5 pages and 4 figures. Submitted to MRS Fall Meeting 2002, Symposium Proceedings (SymposiumG)