Casimir force phase transitions in the graphene family

The Casimir force is a universal interaction induced by electromagnetic quantum fluctuations between any types of objects. The expansion of the graphene family by adding silicene, germanene and stanene (2D allotropes of Si, Ge, and Sn), lends itself as a platform to probe Dirac-like physics in honey...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 14699
Main Authors: Rodriguez-Lopez, Pablo, Kort-Kamp, Wilton J. M., Dalvit, Diego A. R., Woods, Lilia M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 15.03.2017
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
639/301/357
639/624/399/918/1054
639/766/119
Casimir Interactions, Graphene, Silicene, Hall Effects
Electrons
Graphene
Humanities and Social Sciences
MATERIALS SCIENCE
multidisciplinary
Phase transitions
Physics
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Temperature effects
New Mexico
United States > US
ISSN:2041-1723, 2041-1723
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The Casimir force is a universal interaction induced by electromagnetic quantum fluctuations between any types of objects. The expansion of the graphene family by adding silicene, germanene and stanene (2D allotropes of Si, Ge, and Sn), lends itself as a platform to probe Dirac-like physics in honeycomb staggered systems in such a ubiquitous interaction. We discover Casimir force phase transitions between these staggered 2D materials induced by the complex interplay between Dirac physics, spin-orbit coupling and externally applied fields. In particular, we find that the interaction energy experiences different power law distance decays, magnitudes and dependences on characteristic physical constants. Furthermore, due to the topological properties of these materials, repulsive and quantized Casimir interactions become possible. The Casimir force is a ubiquitous interaction arising from electromagnetic quantum fluctuations. Here, the authors uncover the underlying physics governing Casimir force phase transitions in staggered 2D materials in the graphene family.
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USDOE
AC52-06NA25396; FG02-06ER46297
LA-UR-16-27001
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms14699