Casimir stress in an inhomogeneous medium

The Casimir effect in an inhomogeneous dielectric is investigated using Lifshitz’s theory of electromagnetic vacuum energy. A permittivity function that depends continuously on one Cartesian coordinate is chosen, bounded on each side by homogeneous dielectrics. The result for the Casimir stress is infinite everywhere inside the inhomogeneous region, a divergence that does not occur for piece-wise homogeneous dielectrics with planar boundaries. A Casimir force per unit volume can be extracted from the infinite stress but it diverges on the boundaries between the inhomogeneous medium and the homogeneous dielectrics. An alternative regularization of the vacuum stress is considered that removes the contribution of the inhomogeneity over small distances, where macroscopic electromagnetism is invalid. The alternative regularization yields a finite Casimir stress inside the inhomogeneous region, but the stress and force per unit volume diverge on the boundaries with the homogeneous dielectrics. The case of inhomogeneous dielectrics with planar boundaries thus falls outside the current understanding of the Casimir effect.     

Repulsive Casimir force between silicon dioxide and superconductor

We present a detailed investigation of the Casimir interaction between the superconductor Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ (BSCCO) and silicon dioxide with bromobenzene present in between. We found that the dispersion force is repulsive and the magnitude of the force can be changed by varying the thickness of the object and the temperature. The repulsive force would provide a method to deal with stiction problems and provide much significant from the practical point of view. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Casimir pressure regularization in two-dimensional field models

A method for Casimir pressure calculation with the help of the regular part of the Green surface function is considered in the two-dimensional case. Also, a method for the approximate calculation of the regular part of the Green surface function using a Born-type series is suggested. It is tested for a problem for which the exact solution is known.     

The correspondence between Casimir pressure and energy in one-dimensional field models

We propose a method of calculation of Casimir pressure using the Green function for one-dimensional case. This method yields the renormalized pressure if an external field is absent, otherwise it permits us to calculate the dependence of pressure at one boundary on the other boundary’s coordinate. The calculated pressure permits one to obtain the Casimir energy for the systems under consideration.     

Casimir force in dense confined electrolytes

ABSTRACT

Understanding the force between charged surfaces immersed in an electrolyte solution is a classic problem in soft matter and liquid-state theory. Recent experiments showed that the force decays exponentially but the characteristic decay length in a concentrated electrolyte is significantly larger than what liquid-state theories predict based on analysing correlation functions in the bulk electrolyte. Inspired by the classical Casimir effect, we consider an additional mechanism for force generation, namely the confinement of density fluctuations in the electrolyte by the walls. We show analytically within the random phase approximation, which assumes the ions to be point charges, that this fluctuation-induced force is attractive and also decays exponentially, albeit with a decay length that is half of the bulk correlation length. These predictions change dramatically when excluded volume effects are accounted for within the mean spherical approximation. At high ion concentrations the Casimir force is found to be exponentially damped oscillatory as a function of the distance between the confining surfaces. Our analysis does not resolve the riddle of the anomalously long screening length observed in experiments, but suggests that the Casimir force due to mode restriction in density fluctuations could be an hitherto under-appreciated source of surface–surface interaction.     

Optical conductivity of ABA-stacked trilayer graphene

The optical conductivity of a trilayer graphene is studied using the Kubo-Greenwood formula. We calculate the real part of the diagonal optical conductivity of an ABA-stacked trilayer graphene with different Fermi energies. The optical conductivity arises from interband matrix elements of the electric current operator involving the transitions from the occupied states to the unoccupied ones. We study the dependence of the real part of the diagonal optical conductivity on the photon energy, and the role of the transitions.     

Critical Casimir effect in dilute He–He mixture films

Recently, we have found that ⁴He films thin near the lambda point. Based on our measurements, the thinning appears to be caused by the confinement of superfluid order parameter fluctuations in the films. The phenomenon of the thinning is believed to be analogous to the Casimir effect in electromagnetism where the confinement of electromagnetic fluctuations causes the vacuum layer that separates two metal plates to thin. In this paper, we report the result of an experiment extending our previous study to ³He–⁴He mixture films. Thinning is found near the new lambda points and the characteristics of the thinning are similar to that found in pure ⁴He films.     

On the Casimir effect without cutoff

The formulation of the Casimir effect without cutoffs is discussed. Our derivation emphasizes the decisive role of the free-space electromagnetic energy density. The zero point energy arises as an energy per unit volume, i.e., as local (in x space) energy density. It is given by the vaccum expectation value of the free-space Hamiltonian density in the Fock representation corresponding to the non-trivial geometry. The two Fock representations corresponding to the system with and without plates are proved to be inequivalent.     

Asymmetrical plasmon reflections in tapered graphene ribbons with wrinkle edges

Asymmetrical graphene plasmon reflection patterns are found in infrared near-field images of tapered graphene ribbons epitaxially grown on silicon carbon substrates. Comparing experimental data with numerical simulations, the asymmetry of these patterns is attributed to reflection of plasmons by wrinkled edges naturally grown in the graphene. These graphene wrinkles are additional plasmon reflectors with varying optical conductivity, which act as nanometer scale plasmonic modulators and thus have potential applications in photoelectric information detectors, transmitters, and modulators.     

Triple‐resonant two‐phonon Raman scattering in graphene

The triple‐resonant (TR) second‐order Raman scattering mechanism in graphene is re‐examined. It is shown that the magnitude of the TR contribution to the photon‐G′ mode coupling function in graphene is one order of magnitude larger than the widely accepted two‐resonant coupling. Enhancement of the order of 100 in the Raman intensity, with respect to the usual double‐resonant model, is found for the G′ band in graphene, and is expected in the related sp²‐based carbon materials, as well. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quantum confinement in graphene quantum dots

By performing density functional theory calculations, we studied the quantum confinement in charged graphene quantum dots (GQDs), which is found to be clearly edge and shape dependent. It is found that the excess charges have a large distribution at the edges of the GQD. The resulting energy spectrum shift is very nonuniform and hence the Coulomb diamonds in the charge stability diagram vary irregularly, in good agreement with the observed nonperiodic Coulomb blockade oscillation. We also illustrate that the level statistics of the GQDs can be described by a Gaussian distribution, as predicted for chaotic Dirac billiards.

     

不同晶系应变Si状态密度研究

应变Si技术是当前微电子领域研究发展重点,态密度是其材料的重要物理参量.本文基于应力相关KP理论,建立了(001),(101)和(111)晶面施加双轴应力形成的四方、单斜及三角晶系应变Si导带、价带态密度模型.结果表明,除单斜和三角晶系导带底态密度外,应力对其余各态密度均有显著影响.本文所得模型数据量化,可为应变Si材料物理的理解及其他物理参数模型的建立奠定重要理论基础. 关键词： 应变Si KP 态密度     

利用光晶格自旋链中磁振子的激发模拟有限温度下光子的动力学 Casimir 效应

研究了在静磁场诱导的磁偶极-偶极相互作用和外部激光场诱导产生的偶极-偶极相互作用下光晶格自旋链中磁振子激发的动力学特征. 文中选取了蓝失谐光晶格, 提出了等效温度的概念, 并将系统中磁振子的激发过程与光学振动腔中光子的激发过程进行了类比. 研究表明, 通过选取适当的系统参数, 可以在磁振子系统中重现有限温度下光子的动力学Casimir效应. 关键词： 光晶格 偶极－偶极相互作用 磁振子 Casimir效应     

On non‐equilibrium photon distributions in the Casimir effect

The electromagnetic field in a typical geometry of the Casimir effect is described in the Schwinger–Keldysh formalism. The main result is the photon distribution function (Keldysh Green function) in any stationary state of the field. A two‐plate geometry with a sliding interface in local equilibrium is studied in detail, and full agreement with the results of Rytov fluctuation electrodynamics is found.     

氧化石墨烯的多色发光及其在荧光成像中的应用

氧化石墨烯作为石墨烯的一种带隙打开的衍生物,极大地丰富了其光学性质,并拓展了它在传感和成像方面的应用,特别是氧化石墨烯限域的π共轭结构对构建发光碳材料提供了十分便利的条件。目前,有大量的研究工作报道了氧化石墨烯及其衍生物能够产生多种颜色的荧光信号,然而,系统地总结这些研究去揭示氧化石墨烯发光机理的相关工作还比较少。本文总结了关于发光氧化石墨烯纳米材料的合成及其在光学成像方面应用的大量研究工作,为进一步开发新型的发光氧化石墨烯材料提供一些建设性意见。     

Integer quantum Hall effect in Kekulé-patterned graphene

Y-shaped Kekulébond textures in a honeycomb lattice on a graphene-copper superlattice have recently been experimentally revealed.In this paper,the effects of such a bond modulation on the transport coefficients of Kekulé-patterned graphene are investigated in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field.Analytical expressions are derived for the Hall and longitudinal conductivities using the Kubo formula.It is found that the Y-shaped Kekulébond texture lifts the valley degeneracy of all Landau levels except that of the zero mode,leading to additional plateaus in the Hall conductivity accompanied by a split of the corresponding peaks in the longitudinal conductivity.Consequently,the Hall conductivity is quantized as±ne²/h for n=2,4,6,8,10,...,excluding some plateaus that disappear due to the complete overlap of the Landau levels of different cones.These results also suggest that DC Hall conductivity measurements will allow us to determine the Kekulébond texture amplitude.     

Light hole transport in a strained GaAs/In0.18Ga0.82As quantum well at high pressures

Abstract

Here we report what we believe to be the first observation of the pressure dependence of the light hole behavior in a modulation doped In_0.18Ga_0.82As/GaAs single strained quantum well grown by MBE. Transport measurements have been undertaken as a function of temperature (4–300K) and hydrostatic pressure (4–8kbar). Hole mobilities of ～17000 cm²/Vs have been obtained for sheet carrier densities of ～3.3×10¹¹ cm^?2. At low temperatures (<100K) persistent photogenerated holes have been observed. The hole mobility is found to decrease with increasing pressure at a rate intermediate between that typically observed for holes and electrons in bulk III-V semiconductors.     

不同N掺杂构型石墨烯的量子电容研究

超级电容器是一种利用界面双电层储能或在电极材料表面及近表面发生快速可逆氧化还原反应而储能的装置, 其特点是功率密度高、循环寿命长. 制备出兼有高能量密度的电极材料是当前超级电容器研究的重点. 以提高电容储能为目标, 通过掺杂N原子来调制石墨烯的电子结构, 使用基于密度泛函理论的第一原理计算了不同N掺杂构型石墨烯的态密度和能带结构, 拟合出了石墨烯的量子电容, 分析了量子电容储能提升的原因.