Surface Scattering Expansion of the Casimir-Polder Interaction for Magneto-dielectric Bodies: Convergence Properties for Insulators, Conductors and Semiconductors

Abstract

Fluctuation induced forces are a hallmark of the interplay of fluctuations and geometry. We recently proved the existence of a multi-parametric family of exact representations of Casimir and Casimir-Polder interactions between bodies of arbitrary shape and material composition, admitting a multiple scattering expansion (MSE) as a sequence of inter- and intra-body multiple wave scatterings [G. Bimonte, T. Emig, Phys. Rev. A 108, 052807 (2023)]. The approach requires no knowledge of the scattering amplitude (T-matrix) of the bodies. Here we investigate the convergence properties of the MSE for the Casimir-Polder interaction of a polarizable particle with a macroscopic body. We consider representative materials from different classes, such as insulators, conductors and semiconductors. Using a sphere and a cylinder as benchmarks, we demonstrate that the MSE can be used to efficiently and accurately compute the Casimir-Polder interaction for bodies with smooth surfaces.