The Casimir force between parallel plates separated by anisotropic media

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how anisotropic media between parallel plates influence the Casimir force, revealing that anisotropy can significantly alter the force's magnitude and direction, including inducing repulsive or attractive forces.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of the Casimir force in anisotropic media, highlighting the impact of anisotropy on force direction and magnitude, which was not previously detailed.

Findings

Anisotropy significantly affects the Casimir force.

Ignoring anisotropy can lead to incorrect force predictions.

Anisotropy can induce repulsive or attractive forces depending on the material properties.

Abstract

The Casimir force between two parallel plates separated by anisotropic media is investigated. We theoretically calculate the Casimir force between two parallel plates when the interspace between the plates is filled with anisotropic media. Our result shows that the anisotropy of the material between the plates can significantly affect the Casimir force, especially the direction of the force. If ignoring the anisotropy of the in-between material makes the force to be repulsive (attractive), by contrast, taking the anisotropy into account may produce an extra attractive (repulsive) force. The physical explanation for this phenomenon is also discussed.