Anisotropic contribution to the van der Waals and the Casimir-Polder energies forCO2andCH4molecules near surfaces and thin films

Abstract

In order to understand why carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) molecules interact differently with surfaces, we investigate the Casimir-Polder energy of a linearly polarizable CO2 molecule and an isotropically polarizable CH4 molecule in front of an atomically thin gold film and an amorphous silica slab. We quantitatively analyze how the anisotropy in the polarizability of the molecule influences the van der Waals contribution to the binding energy of the molecule.

Low-temperature expansion of the Casimir–Polder free energy for an atom interacting with a conductive plane

“…The Casimir-Polder force essentially depends on the material of the macro-objects, its dimension, shapes, conductivity, and temperature [3,4], and it is important for the interaction of graphene with micro-particles [5][6][7][8][9]. The Casimir-Polder force and torque for anisotropic molecules have been the subject of investigations in the recent years [10][11][12][13][14].…”

Casimir-Polder force between anisotropic nanoparticles and gently curved surfaces

“…Nevertheless, it has been suggested [29] that such forces may be implicated in absorption properties of anisotropic molecules. A quantum treatment of the problem, applicable to the scales of molecular adsorption, would thus be a valuable extension.…”

Spontaneous emission in anisotropic dielectrics

“…33, it is worth approaching this calculation in an alternative manner. In particular, we are building upon previous work on the dyadic Green's function approach to macroscopic QED [38][39][40], which has successfully been applied to other studies of anisotropic systems in the past [41][42][43][44], and in turn builds on Refs. [45][46][47] amongst others.…”