Roughness correction to the Casimir force at short separations: Contact distance and extreme value statistics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method combining extreme value statistics and pairwise summation to accurately calculate the Casimir force at very short separations where surface roughness peaks are significant.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach that accounts for high surface peaks using extreme value statistics, improving force predictions at short distances.

Findings

Accurate Casimir force estimates at short separations.

Reconciliation of experimental data with theoretical predictions.

Highlighting the importance of surface peaks in force calculations.

Abstract

So far there has been no reliable method to calculate the Casimir force at separations comparable to the root-mean-square of the height fluctuations of the surfaces. Statistical analysis of rough gold samples has revealed the presence of peaks considerably higher than the root-mean-square roughness. These peaks redefine the minimum separation distance between the bodies and can be described by extreme value statistics. Here we show that the contribution of the high peaks to the Casimir force can be calculated with a pairwise additive summation, while the contribution of asperities with normal height can be evaluated perturbatively. This method provides a reliable estimate of the Casimir force at short distances, and it solves the significant, so far unexplained discrepancy between measurements of the Casimir force between rough surfaces and the results of perturbation theory. Furthermore, we illustrate the importance of our results in a technologically relevant situation.