Van der Waals interaction in uniaxial anisotropic media

Abstract

Van der Waals interactions between flat surfaces in uniaxial anisotropic media are investigated in the nonretarded limit. The main focus is the effect of nonzero tilt between the optical axis and the surface normal on the strength of van der Waals attraction. General expressions for the van der Waals free energy are derived using the surface mode method and the transfer-matrix formalism. To facilitate numerical calculations a temperature-dependent three-band parameterization of the dielectric tensor of the liquid crystal 5CB is developed. A solid slab immersed in a liquid crystal experiences a van der Waals torque that aligns the surface normal relative to the optical axis of the medium. The preferred orientation is different for different materials. Two solid slabs in close proximity experience a van der Waals attraction that is strongest for homeotropic alignment of the intervening liquid crystal for all the materials studied. The results have implications for the stability of colloids in liquid crystal hosts.

Published version. Typos in Table 1 corrected

References in corpus (3)

• On the torque on birefringent plates induced by quantum fluctuations
• Repulsive Casimir forces between solid materials with high refractive index intervening liquids
• Dispersion interactions in stratified anisotropic and optically active media at all separations

Cited by in corpus (7)

• A Materials Perspective on Casimir and van der Waals Interactions
• Rotation of a liquid crystal by the Casimir torque
• Van der Waals torque and force between dielectrically anisotropic layered media
• Qualitative chirality effects on the Casimir-Lifshitz torque with liquid crystals
• The Casimir force between parallel plates separated by anisotropic media
• Special features of the thermal Casimir effect across a uniaxial anisotropic film
• Competition-Induced Sign Reversal of Casimir-Lifshitz Torque: An Investigation on Topological Node-Line Semimetal