Electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations, Casimir and Van der Waals forces

TL;DR

This paper reviews electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations and their observable effects, focusing on the Casimir force between metallic mirrors, and discusses scaling laws and the transition between different force regimes.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the Casimir force for bulk metallic mirrors using a plasma model, highlighting the crossover between Van der Waals and Casimir-Polder regimes.

Findings

Scaling laws at long and short distances for metallic mirrors

Crossover behavior similar to atom-atom Van der Waals and Casimir-Polder forces

Short-distance interactions explained by surface plasmon excitations

Abstract

Electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations have observable consequences, like the Casimir force between mirrors in vacuum. This force is now measured with good accuracy and agreement with theory when the effect of imperfect reflection of mirrors is properly taken into account. We discuss the simple case of bulk metallic mirrors described by a plasma model and show that simple scaling laws are obtained at the limits of long and short distances. The crossover between the short and long-distance laws is quite similar to the crossover between Van der Waals and Casimir-Polder forces for two atoms in vacuum. The result obtained at short distances can be understood as the London interaction between plasmon excitations at the surface of each bulk mirror.