Casimir and electrostatic forces from Bi2Se3 thin films of varying thickness

Z. Babamahdi; V. B. Svetovoy; D. T. Yimam; B. J. Kooi; T. Banerjee; J. Moon; S. Oh; M. Enache; M. Stöhr; G. Palasantzas

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.103.L161102

Casimir and electrostatic forces from Bi2Se3 thin films of varying thickness

Z. Babamahdi, V. B. Svetovoy, D. T. Yimam, B. J. Kooi, T. Banerjee, J. Moon, S. Oh, M. Enache, M. Stöhr, G. Palasantzas

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8 Scopus citations

Abstract

We explore here the decisive role of film thickness on Casimir and electrostatic forces from topological insulating Bi2Se3 films. The forces were measured for the Au-Bi2Se3 system under ambient conditions to simulate realistic applications. It is shown that the electrostatic forces associated with a nonzero contact potential of Vo∼200mV played a dominant role, and could not be compensated for thinner films (≤20nm thick). However, for thicker films the measured force, after voltage compensation, started to approach the genuine Casimir force in very good agreement with Lifshitz theory. Our results point out that any gradual deviation from theory for thinner films underlies the presence of strong electrostatic effects.

Original language	English
Article number	L161102
Journal	Physical Review B
Volume	103
Issue number	16
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.L161102
State	Published - Apr 7 2021
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This research was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) under Grant No. 16PR3236.

Funders	Funder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	16PR3236

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10.1103/PhysRevB.103.L161102

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title = "Casimir and electrostatic forces from Bi2Se3 thin films of varying thickness",

abstract = "We explore here the decisive role of film thickness on Casimir and electrostatic forces from topological insulating Bi2Se3 films. The forces were measured for the Au-Bi2Se3 system under ambient conditions to simulate realistic applications. It is shown that the electrostatic forces associated with a nonzero contact potential of Vo∼200mV played a dominant role, and could not be compensated for thinner films (≤20nm thick). However, for thicker films the measured force, after voltage compensation, started to approach the genuine Casimir force in very good agreement with Lifshitz theory. Our results point out that any gradual deviation from theory for thinner films underlies the presence of strong electrostatic effects.",

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AU - Babamahdi, Z.

AU - Svetovoy, V. B.

AU - Yimam, D. T.

AU - Kooi, B. J.

AU - Banerjee, T.

AU - Moon, J.

AU - Oh, S.

AU - Enache, M.

AU - Stöhr, M.

AU - Palasantzas, G.

PY - 2021/4/7

Y1 - 2021/4/7

N2 - We explore here the decisive role of film thickness on Casimir and electrostatic forces from topological insulating Bi2Se3 films. The forces were measured for the Au-Bi2Se3 system under ambient conditions to simulate realistic applications. It is shown that the electrostatic forces associated with a nonzero contact potential of Vo∼200mV played a dominant role, and could not be compensated for thinner films (≤20nm thick). However, for thicker films the measured force, after voltage compensation, started to approach the genuine Casimir force in very good agreement with Lifshitz theory. Our results point out that any gradual deviation from theory for thinner films underlies the presence of strong electrostatic effects.

AB - We explore here the decisive role of film thickness on Casimir and electrostatic forces from topological insulating Bi2Se3 films. The forces were measured for the Au-Bi2Se3 system under ambient conditions to simulate realistic applications. It is shown that the electrostatic forces associated with a nonzero contact potential of Vo∼200mV played a dominant role, and could not be compensated for thinner films (≤20nm thick). However, for thicker films the measured force, after voltage compensation, started to approach the genuine Casimir force in very good agreement with Lifshitz theory. Our results point out that any gradual deviation from theory for thinner films underlies the presence of strong electrostatic effects.

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Casimir and electrostatic forces from Bi2Se3 thin films of varying thickness

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