Frictional drag between quantum wells mediated by fluctuating electromagnetic field

TL;DR

This paper calculates the electromagnetic fluctuation-induced frictional drag between quantum wells, highlighting the importance of retardation effects at high electron densities and proposing an experiment to test the theory.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive calculation of frictional drag including retardation effects, extending previous models for semiconductor systems.

Findings

Retardation effects dominate at high electron densities.

Frictional drag depends on temperature, electron density, and separation.

Proposes an experiment to validate the theoretical predictions.

Abstract

We use the theory of the fluctuating electromagnetic field to calculate the frictional drag between nearby two-and three dimensional electron systems. The frictional drag results from coupling via a fluctuating electromagnetic field, and can be considered as the dissipative part of the van der Waals interaction. In comparison with other similar calculations for semiconductor two-dimensional system we include retardation effects. We consider the dependence of the frictional drag force on the temperature $T$, electron density and separation $d$. We find, that retardation effects become dominating factor for high electron densities, corresponding thing metallic film, and suggest a new experiment to test the theory. The relation between friction and heat transfer is also briefly commented on.