Thermal Casimir effect between random layered dielectrics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the thermal Casimir effect varies between layered dielectric materials, revealing self-averaging behavior at long distances and sample-dependent randomness at short distances.

Contribution

It introduces a model for the thermal Casimir effect in layered dielectrics, highlighting the transition from self-averaging to random behavior based on distance.

Findings

Effective interaction is self-averaging at long distances.

Short-distance behavior is sample-dependent and dominated by local dielectric properties.

The study provides a framework for understanding Casimir forces in complex layered materials.

Abstract

We study the thermal Casimir effect between two thick slabs composed of plane-parallel layers of random dielectric materials interacting across an intervening homogeneous dielectric. It is found that the effective interaction at long distances is self averaging and is given by a description in terms of effective dielectric functions. The behavior at short distances becomes random (sample dependent) and is dominated by the local values of the dielectric function proximal to each other across the dielectrically homogeneous slab.