Theory Department
Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
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Metalidis, G., Bruno, P.

Magnetic Casimir effect
Physical Review A 66, pp 062102/1-10 (2002)
The Casimir effect results from alterations of the zero-point electromagnetic energy introduced by boundary conditions. For ferromagnetic layers separated by vacuum (or a dielectric), such boundary conditions are influenced by the magneto-optical Kerr effect. We will show that this gives rise to a long-range magnetic interaction and discuss the effect for two different configurations (magnetization parallel and perpendicular to the layers). Analytical expressions are derived for two models and compared to numerical calculations. Numerical calculations of the effect for Fe are also presented and the possibility of an experimental observation of the Casimir magnetic interaction is discussed.

TH-2002-49