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The Purcell effect describes the modification of the spontaneous decay rate in the presence of electromagnetic media and bodies. In this work, we shed light on the dependencies and magnitude of this effect for chiral materials. Using the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics and Fermi's golden rule, we study a chiral bulk medium with and without local-field corrections, an idealised chiral mirror and a chiral surface. The results imply that the chiral effect is greatest for large transition frequencies, molecules with large optical rotatory strength and media with a strong cross-susceptibility. In the case of a half space, short distances from the molecule to the interface additionally enhance the effect., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, Submitted

We present a theory for Casimir--Polder forces acting on greenhouse gas molecules dissolved in a thin water film. Such a nanosized film has recently been predicted to arise on th surface of melting ice as stabilized by repulsive Lifshitz forces. We show that different models for the effective polarizability of greenhouse gas molecules in water lead to different predictions for how Casimir--Polder forces influence the extraction of CH$_4$ and CO$_2$ molecules from the melting ice surface. In the most intricate model of a finite-sized molecule inside a cavity, dispersion potentials push the methane molecules towards the ice surface whereas the carbon dioxide typically will be attracted towards the closest interface (ice or air). Previous models for effective polarizability had suggested that CO$_2$ would also be pushed towards the ice surface. Release of greenhouse gas molecules from the surface of melting ice can potentially influence climate greenhouse effects.

Photonic topological insulator plates violate Lorentz reciprocity which leads to a directionality of surface-guided modes. This in-plane directionality can be imprinted via an applied magnetic field. On the basis of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics in nonreciprocal media, we show that two photonic topological insulator surfaces are subject to a tuneable, magnetic-field dependent Casimir torque. Due to the directionality, this torque exhibits a unique $2\pi$ periodicity, in contradistinction to the Casimir torques encountered for reciprocal uniaxial birefringent media or corrugated surfaces which are $\pi$-periodic. Remarkably, the torque direction and strength can be externally driven in situ by simply applying a magnetic field on the system, and we show that this can be exploited to induce a control the rotation of small objects. Our predictions can be relevant for nano-opto-mechanical experiments and devices., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We consider the radiative properties of a system of two identical correlated atoms interacting with the electromagnetic field in its vacuum state in the presence of a generic dielectric environment. We suppose that the two emitters are prepared in a symmetric or antisymmetric superposition of one ground state and one excited state and we evaluate the transition rate to the collective ground state, showing distinctive cooperative radiative features. Using a macroscopic quantum electrodynamics approach to describe the electromagnetic field, we first obtain an analytical expression for the decay rate of the two entangled two-level atoms in terms of the Green's tensor of the generic external environment. We then investigate the emission process when both atoms are in free space and subsequently when a perfectly reflecting mirror is present, showing how the boundary affects the physical features of the superradiant and subradiant emission by the two coupled emitters. The possibility to control and tailor radiative processes is also discussed., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

Quantum friction, the electromagnetic fluctuation-induced frictional force decelerating an atom which moves past a macroscopic dielectric body, has so far eluded experimental evidence despite more than three decades of theoretical studies. Inspired by the recent finding that dynamical corrections to such an atom's internal dynamics are enhanced by one order of magnitude for vertical motion -- compared to the paradigmatic setup of parallel motion -- we generalize quantum friction calculations to arbitrary angles between the atom's direction of motion and the surface in front of which it moves. Motivated by the disagreement between quantum friction calculations based on Markovian quantum master equations and time-dependent perturbation theory, we carry out our derivations of the quantum frictional force for arbitrary angles employing both methods and compare them., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 1 table

Calculations of the static electric-dipole scalar and tensor polarizabilities are presented for two alkali atoms, Rb and Cs, for the $nS$, $nP_{1/2, 3/2}$, and $nD_{3/2, 5/2}$ states with large principal quantum numbers up to $n = 50$. The calculations are performed within an effective one-electron approximation, based on the Dirac-Fock Hamiltonian with a semi-empirical core-polarization potential. The obtained results are compared with those from a simpler semi-empirical approach and with available experimental data., Comment: 4 Tables in Supplementary Material

We study the effect of salts on the thickness of wetting films on melting ice and interactions acting on CO$_2$ bubble near ice-water and vapor-water interfaces. Governing mechanisms are the Lifshitz and the double-layer interactions in the respective three-layer geometries. We demonstrate that the latter depend on the Casimir--Polder interaction of the salt ions dissolved in water with the respective ice, vapour and CO$_2$ interfaces, as calculated using different models for their effective polarizability in water. Significant variation in the predicted thickness of the equilibrium water film is observed for different salt ions and when using different models for the ions' polarizabilities. We find that CO$_2$ bubbles are attracted towards ice-water interface and repelled from the vapor-water interface

Some open questions exist with fluctuation-induced forces between extended dipoles. Conventional intuition derives from large-separation perturbative approximations to dispersion force theory. Here we present a full non-perturbative theory. In addition we discuss how one can take into account finite dipole size corrections. It is of fundamental value to investigate the limits of validity of the perturbative dispersion force theory., Comment: 9 pages, no figures

We study the influence of thermal Casimir-Polder forces on the near-surface trapping of cold polar molecules, with emphasis on LiH and YbF near an Au surface at room temperature. We show that for a molecule initially prepared in its electronic and rovibrational ground state, the Casimir-Polder force oscillates with the molecule-wall separation. The non-resonant force contribution and the evanescent part of the resonant force contribution almost exactly cancel at high temperature which results in a saturation of the (attractive) force in this limit. A dynamical calculation reveals how the spatial oscillations die out as thermalisation of the molecule with its environment sets in., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, minor corrections and additions

Based on macroscopic QED in linear, causal media, we present a consistent theory for the Casimir-Polder force acting on an atom positioned near dispersing and absorbing magnetodielectric bodies. The perturbative result for the van-der-Waals energy is shown to exhibit interesting new features in the presence of magnetodielectric bodies. To go beyond perturbation theory, we start with the center-of-mass equation of motion and derive a dynamical expression for the Casimir-Polder force acting on an atom prepared in an arbitrary electronic state. For a non-driven atom in the weak coupling regime, the force as a function of time is shown to be a superposition of force components that are related to the electronic density matrix elements at chosen time. These force components depend on the position-dependent polarizability of the atom that correctly accounts for the body-induced level shifts and broadenings., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, presented at: X International Conference on Quantum Optics, Minsk, Belarus, May 30 - June 3, 2004

There have been recent suggestions for searching for the electron electric dipole moment, using solid state experiments with compounds containing Gd 3+ ions. These experiments could improve the sensitivity compared to present atomic and molecular experiments by several orders of magnitude. The analysis of the problem requires a calculation of the enhancement coefficient K for the electron electric dipole moment in the Gd 3+ ion. In this work we perform this calculation. The result is K = -4.9 +- 1.6. Limitations of the accuracy of the calculation are mainly due to the lack of data on Gd 3+ excitation spectra. We formulate which quantities have to be measured and/or calculated to improve the accuracy., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures