Contribution of drifting carriers to the Casimir-Lifshitz and Casimir-Polder interactions with semiconductor materials

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new theoretical framework for Casimir-Lifshitz and Casimir-Polder interactions with semiconductors, incorporating charge drift effects, and bridges the gap between dielectric and conductor behaviors.

Contribution

It presents a novel theory that accounts for charge drift in semiconductors, unifying dielectric and conductor Casimir interactions through frequency-dependent dispersion relations.

Findings

Derived a crossover between dielectric and conductor Casimir interactions.

Matched reflection amplitudes with recent Debye screening calculations.

Provided a unified description of thermal Lifshitz forces in semiconductors.

Abstract

We develop a new theory for Casimir-Lifshitz and Casimir-Polder interactions with semiconductor surfaces that takes into account charge drift in the bulk material. The corresponding frequency-dependent dispersion relations describe a crossover between Lifshitz results for dielectrics and for good conductors. In the quasi-static limit, our calculated reflection amplitudes coincide with those recently computed to account for Debye screening in the thermal Lifshitz force with conducting surfaces with small density of carriers.