Nanoscale Casimir Force Softening Originated from Quantum Surface Responses

Abstract: Strong coupling between vacuum fields and quantum matter occurs at the nanoscale and broadens the horizon of light-matter interaction. Nanoscale Casimir force, as an exhibition of vacuum fields, inevitably experiences the influence of surface electrons due to their quantum character, which are ignorable in micron Casimir force. Here, we develop a three-dimensional conformal map method to tackle typical experimental configurations with surface electron contributions to Casimir force purposely and delicately included. Based on this method, we reveal that surface electrons can either enhance or suppress the nanoscale Casimir force, depending on materials and crystal facets. The mechanism is demonstrated to be the Casimir force softening, which results from surface electrons effectively altering the distance seen by the Casimir interaction. Our findings not only highlight the interaction between surface electrons and vacuum fields but also provide a recipe for theoretical and experimental investigation of nanoscale fluctuation-type problems.