Retardation Effects in Atom-Wall Interactions
arXiv:2310.02667 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.109.022808
Abstract
The onset of retardation effects in atom-wall interactions is studied. It is shown that the transition range from the 1/z^3 short-range (van der Waals) interaction to the 1/z^4 long-range (Casimir) retarded interaction critically depends on the atomic properties and on the dielectric function of the material. For simple non-alkali atoms (e.g., ground-state hydrogen and ground-state helium) interacting with typical dielectric materials such as intrinsic silicon, the transition to the retarded regime is shown to proceed at a distance of about 10 nm (200 Bohr radii). This is much shorter than typical characteristic absorption wavelengths of solids. Larger transition regimes are obtained for atoms with a large static polarizability such as metastable helium. We present a simple estimate for the critical distance, z_cr=137*(α(0)/Z)^(1/2) atomic units, where alpha(0) is the static polarizability (expressed in atomic units) and Z is the number of electrons of the atom.
arXiv comment10 pages; RevTeX
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