Variation of the lateral Casimir force between corrugated conductors due to the presence of a dielectric slab

Abstract

We investigate the lateral Casimir interaction between two corrugated conductors when they enclose a dielectric slab. The magnitude of the lateral Casimir force can be changed due to the presence of a dielectric slab between them, and it strongly depends on the thickness (d) and dielectric function of the slab and also on the position of the slab with respect to the conductors. In addition, the distance between the conductors (H) and their corrugation wavelengths play important roles in tuning the lateral Casimir interaction. For fixed d and H, quite interestingly, the magnitude of the lateral Casimir force varies when the position of the slab with respect to conductors changes, and it has a maximum when the slab is positioned precisely at the center of the space between the conductors. We find that the interaction decreases when the dielectric constant of the slab increases. © 2012 American Physical Society.