Condensed Matter Seminar: Monopolar Charge Fluctuation Induced Forces in Capacitor Systems

Abstract: Forces may be induced by fluctuations of any thermodynamic parameter. The most well known fluctuation induced force is the Van-der-Waals/Casimir force, which is due to the dipolar fluctuations. A less studied force is the force due to monopolar charge fluctuations, which are related to the capacitance of the system. This talk will focus on monopolar charge fluctuation forces in solid state nanodevices. In particular the force is calculated for a parallel plate system[1] involving both a graphitic nanostructure and a metal plate. Both the classical and quantum mechanical effects will be discussed. This force will be shown to be comparable or greater than the Van-der Waals/Casimir force in systems with reduced dimensionality, such as ones involving graphitic nanostructures.Host: H. Greenside