2008/02/26 by G. L. Klimchitskaya, B. Geyer · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Casimir effect #Casimir pressure #Condensed matter physics #Dielectric #Doping #Insulator (electricity) #Materials science #Nernst equation #Optoelectronics #Physics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum mechanics #Semiconductor #Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies #Thermal conductivity #quant-ph #van der Waals force
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1751-8113/41/16/164032
published as J. Phys. A: Math. Theor., v.41, N16, p.164032-(1-12), 2008. · 14 pages, 4 figures. Proceedings of QFEXT07, to appear in J. Phys. A
arxiv created 2008/02/26 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The application of the Lifshitz theory to describe the thermal Casimir force between dielectrics and semiconductors is considered. It is shown that for all true dielectrics (i.e., for all materials having zero conductivity at zero temperature) the inclusion of a nonzero conductivity arising at nonzero temperature into the model of dielectric response leads to the violation of the Nernst heat theorem. This result refers equally to simple insulators, intrinsic semiconductors, Mott-Hubbard dielectrics and doped semiconductors with doping concentration below a critical value. We demonstrate that in the insulator-metal transition the Casimir free energy changes abruptly irrespective of whether the conductivity changes continuously or discontinuously. The application of the Lifshitz formula to polar dielectrics results in large thermal correction that is linear in temperature. A rule is formulated on how to apply the Lifshitz theory to real materials in agreement with thermodynamics and experiment.