Repulsion of polarized particles from two-dimensional materials

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a dipole source can experience strong, tunable repulsive forces from two-dimensional materials like graphene, with potential applications in nanotechnology and optics, by solving a classical scattering problem.

Contribution

It reveals a robust repulsive interaction between dipoles and 2D materials, expanding understanding of near-field interactions with tunable properties.

Findings

Broad bandwidth of repulsion in graphene from 0 to (5/3)μc

Repulsion can be electrically or chemically tuned

Strong repulsive forces observed in classical scattering analysis

Abstract

Repulsion of nanoparticles, molecules and atoms from surfaces can have important applications in nanomechanical devices, microfluidics, optical manipulation and atom optics. Here, through the solution of a classical scattering problem, we show that a dipole source can experience a robust and strong repulsive force when its near-field interacts with a two-dimensional material that has a metallic character. As an example, the case of graphene is considered, showing that a broad bandwidth of repulsion can be obtained spanning the frequency range $0<\hbar\omega<(5/3)\mu_c$, where ${\mu}_c$ is the chemical potential of graphene, tuneable electrically or by chemical doping.