Long-range magnetic interaction due to the Casimir effect

Abstract

The zero-point quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field in vacuum are known to give rise to a long-range attractive force between metal plates (Casimir effect). For ferromagnetic layers separated by vacuum, it is shown that the interplay of the Casimir effect and of the magneto-optical Kerr effect gives rise to a long-range magnetic interaction. The Casimir magnetic force is found to decay as $D^{-1}$ in the limit of short distances, and as $D^{-5}$ in the limit of long distances. Explicit expressions for realistic systems are given in the large and small distance limits. An experimental test of the Casimir magnetic interaction is proposed.

RevTeX, 4 pages, no figure; further (p)reprints available from http://www.mpi-halle.de/~theory ; v2: revised manuscript

References in corpus (4)

• New Developments in the Casimir Effect
• Measurement of the Casimir force between parallel metallic surfaces
• Demonstration of the Lateral Casimir Force
• Casimir force between partially transmitting mirrors

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• Non-analytic behavior of the Casimir force across a Lifshitz transition in a spin-orbit coupled material
• Magnetic Anistropy due to the Casimir Effect
• Entropic magnetic interlayer coupling
• Anomalous-magnetic-moment-enhanced Casimir effect