What Materials Feel the Casimir Effect?

Why does the casimir effect require conducting plates?
- Devon (age 26)
Lansing

Conducting plates aren't needed. Dielectric materials also work. Either one in effect reduces the vacuum fluctuations of the electric fields.

Mike W.

(published on 08/30/2013)

If the dielectric material is a ferroelectric like Barium titanate, does it influence the behavior between the plates?
- Devon (age 26)
Lansing

The static ferroelectric electric field doesn't matter here. Big dielectric constants do matter, and BaTiO₃ does have a big dielectric constant near the transition around T=400K.  The Casimir effect mostly comes from rather high frequency modes, so only the high frequency part of the dielectric constant should be important. So even those ferroelectrics that have second-order transitions (unlike BaTiO₃) and, in principle, infinite dc dielectric constants at the Curie point will not behave like good conductors as far as Casimir effects go.

Mike W.

(published on 08/30/2013)