Local-field corrected van der Waals potentials in magnetodielectric multilayer systems

TL;DR

This paper analyzes van der Waals potentials in magnetodielectric multilayer systems, incorporating local-field corrections and atom embedding, revealing complex potential landscapes and significant correction effects.

Contribution

It extends previous models by including atom embedding in media and local-field corrections, providing detailed analytical and numerical analysis of multilayer configurations.

Findings

Local-field corrections can reach up to 80%.

Potential wells or walls can form due to electric and magnetic media interplay.

A method to estimate the potential at media interfaces is proposed.

Abstract

Within the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics in linear, causal media, we study the van der Waals potentials of ground-state atoms in planar magnetodielectric host media. Our investigation extends earlier ones in two aspects: It allows for the atom to be embedded in a medium, thus covers many more realistic systems; and it takes account of the local-field correction. Two- and three-layer configurations are treated in detail both analytically and numerically. It is shown that an interplay of electric and magnetic properties in neighbouring media may give rise to potential wells or walls. Local-field corrections as high as 80% are found. By calculating the full potential including the translationally invariant and variant parts, we propose a way to estimate the (finite) value of the dispersion potential at the surface between two media. Connection with earlier work intended for biological applications is established.