In one minute

Diego Dalvit and Steve Lamoreaux develop a theory of Casimir-Lifshitz and Casimir-Polder forces with semiconductor or insulator surfaces that includes charge drift in the bulk, using the classical Boltzmann equation. Waves inside semiconductors interact with drifting carriers, the basis of effects such as solid-state travelling-wave amplification. They derive frequency-dependent dispersion relations that reduce to the usual Lifshitz results for dielectrics. In the quasi-static limit they match recent results that include Debye screening in the thermal Lifshitz force for surfaces with few carriers. The approach modifies the Casimir-Lifshitz force between such materials and gives a way to describe the effect of small conductivity.

Contribution of drifting carriers to the Casimir-Lifshitz and Casimir-Polder interactions with semiconductor materials