# Casimir forces and high-Tc superconductors

## TL;DR

This study examines how Casimir forces between high-Tc superconductors vary with distance and temperature, revealing continuous behavior at short ranges and abrupt changes at the critical temperature in long-range regimes.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of Casimir forces in high-Tc superconductors across different regimes and their relation to phase transition thermodynamics.

## Key findings

- No significant force discontinuity at transition temperature in short-range regime.
- Abrupt increase in Casimir force at critical temperature in long-range regime.
- Strong discontinuities in entropy and specific heat at phase transition.

## Abstract

We investigate the Casimir forces between high-$T_c$ superconductors as function of the distance and temperature, focusing on optimally-doped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.95}$. We consider formerly studied configurations in normal metals lying in the short-distance (50 nm - 600 nm), and long-distance (600 nm - 10 microns) regimes. The dielectric properties of the material are described in terms of weakly-interacting, short-correlated conducting pairs transported along quasi-2D layers. In the short-range regime, a continuous behavior of the Casimir forces arises, with no significant discontinuity at the transition temperature. This behavior also follows in the equivalent the normal conductor configuration. In the long-range regime, the forces show an abrupt increment at the critical temperature. Simultaneously, the Casimir entropy and the specific heat develop a strong discontinuous behavior, characteristic of the SC-normal phase transition. In every situation, the entropy vanishes at extremely low temperatures.