Unifying microscopic and continuum treatments of van der Waals and Casimir interactions

Abstract

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 functional theory in the former, with continuum descriptions of strongly shape-dependent electromagnetic fields in the latter, thus capturing many-body and multiple scattering effects to all orders. Such a theory is especially important when considering vdW interactions at mesoscopic scales, i.e. between molecules and structured surfaces with features on the scale of molecular sizes, in which case the finite sizes, complex shapes, and resulting nonlocal electronic excitations of molecules are strongly influenced by electromagnetic retardation and wave effects that depend crucially on the shapes of surrounding macroscopic bodies. We show that these effects together can modify vdW interactions by orders of magnitude compared to previous treatments based on Casimir--Polder or non-retarded approximations, which are valid only at macroscopically large or atomic-scale separations, respectively.

6 pages (including abstract, appendices, and references), 4 figures

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• Phonon-polariton mediated thermal radiation and heat transfer among molecules and macroscopic bodies: nonlocal electromagnetic response at mesoscopic scales
• Casimir Self-Interaction Energy Density of Quantum Electrodynamic Fields
• Impact of nuclear vibrations on van der Waals and Casimir interactions at zero and finite temperature
• The effects of a far-infrared photon cavity field on the magnetization of a square quantum dot array
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• Mechanical relations between conductive and radiative heat transfer
• Fluctuational Electrodynamics in Atomic and Macroscopic Systems: van der Waals Interactions and Radiative Heat Transfer
• Efficient snap-to-contact computations for van der Waals interacting fibers