@article{1066,
  author = {Saad Zaheer and Alejandro Rodriguez and Steven Johnson and Robert Jaffe},
  title = {Optical-approximation analysis of sidewall-spacing effects on the force between two squares with parallel sidewalls},
  abstract = {Using the ray-optics approximation, we analyze the Casimir force in a two dimensional piston, formed by two metallic blocks sliding between parallel metallic sidewalls, which are separated from the blocks by a finite distance h. For h > 0, the ray-optics approach is not exact because diffraction effects are neglected. Nevertheless, we show that ray optics is able to qualitatively reproduce a surprising effect recently identified in an exact numerical calculation: the force between the blocks varies non-monotonically with h. In this sense, the ray-optics approach captures an essential part of the physics of multi-body interactions in this system, unlike simpler pairwise-interaction approximations such as PFA. Furthermore, by comparison to the exact numerical results, we are able to quantify the impact of diffraction on Casimir forces in this geometry.},
  year = {2007},
  journal = {PRA},
  volume = {76},
  number = {6},
  pages = {063816},
  url = {http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRA/v76/e063816},
}