Casimir interactions between two parallel graphene sheets carrying steady-state drift currents

TL;DR

This paper studies how steady-state drift currents in parallel graphene sheets affect Casimir forces, revealing that currents induce a repulsive correction and lateral forces, offering potential for force control.

Contribution

It introduces a non-equilibrium model for graphene's optical response with drift currents and analyzes their impact on Casimir interactions, highlighting force modulation possibilities.

Findings

Drift currents induce a repulsive correction to Casimir forces.

Lateral forces oppose the direction of carrier flow.

Force corrections depend on distance and drift velocity.

Abstract

We investigate the fluctuation-induced Casimir interactions between two parallel graphene sheets carrying steady-state drift currents. The graphene properties are modeled based on the shifted Fermi disk model to capture the non-equilibrium optical response of the system. We find that the drift current introduces a repulsive correction to the perpendicular to the layers Casimir interaction, thereby reducing the overall attractive force. Although the correction is repulsive, it does not overcome the underlying attraction between the layers. It also generates a lateral force that opposes the carrier flow direction. Both contributions are studied in terms of distance and drift velocity functionalities showing pathways for Casimir force control.