MATEC Web of Conferences 145, 01008 (2018)

https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201814501008
NCTAM 2017

On the effects from the simultaneous occurrence of the critical

Casimir and dispersion forces between conical colloid particle
and a thick plate immersed in nonpolar critical fluid

Galin Valchev1 , 
1 Institute of Mechanics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev St., Block 4, 1113 Sofia, Bul-
garia.

Abstract. Here we study the interplay between the van der Waals (vdWF) and critical
Casimir forces (CCF), as well as the total force (TF) between a conical colloid particle
and a thick planar slab. We do that using general scaling arguments and mean-field type
calculations utilizing the so-called "surface integration approach", a generalization of the
well known Derjaguin approximation. Its usage in the present research, requires knowl-
edge on the forces between two parallel slabs, confining in between some fluctuating fluid
medium characterized by its temperature T and chemical potential µ. The surfaces of the
colloid particle and the slab are assumed coated by thin layers exerting strong preference
to the liquid phase of a simple fluid, or one of the components of a binary mixture, mod-
eled by strong adsorbing local surface potentials, ensuring the so-called (+, +) boundary
conditions. On the other hand, the core region of the slab and the particle, influence the
fluid by long-ranged competing dispersion potentials. We demonstrate that for a suit-
able set of colloid-fluid, slab-fluid, and fluid-fluid coupling parameters the competition
between the effects due to the coatings and the core regions of the objects, result, when
one changes T or µ, in sign change of the Casimir force (CF) and the TF acting between
the colloid and the slab. Such an effect can provide a strategy for solving problems with
handling, feeding, trapping and fixing of microparts in nanotechnology.

1 Introduction
In a recently published work [1], it was shown that the total force (TF) between a spherical colloidal
particle and a thick planar substrate, as well as between two spherical particles immersed in some
critical nonpolar medium, exhibits not only quantitative, but also qualitative control by simple change
of some external to the system parameters like the temperature T and the chemical potential µ of the
fluid or the minimal separation L between the interacting objects. This study was based on the findings
in an earlier research [2], related to the emergence and interplay between the CCF and dispersion
vdWF within the gap formed by couple of parallel planar plates, confining a nonpolar fluid which is
thought to be at the vicinity of its bulk critical point. There it was shown that the supposed interplay
leads to sign change of the net interaction, due to variation of any of the aforementioned external
parameters, when the film thickness is less than some threshold value Lcrit .
 e-mail: [email protected]

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
MATEC Web of Conferences 145, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201814501008
NCTAM 2017

In the present article we are going to be interested in the simultaneous manifestation of both the
CCF and the vdWF, which gives rise to the total force Ftot between a tip like object, say the ending of
a cantilever of an atomic force microscope, and a thick smooth plate. In particular, we will resemble
such an object with a conical in shape colloidal particle with mesoscopic radius R and height H,
immersed in a medium that is either simple fluid or a binary liquid mixture. The mutual orientations
which shall be considered include: base and/or apex of the cone facing the plate, together with the
case when the height of the cone is parallel to the plane bounding the plate. In all three geometries
the minimal surface-to-surface approach between the objects will be designated by L. Furthermore
we shall envisage that the fluid is in the vicinity of its bulk critical point, with the critical temperature
Tc interpreted either as that at the liquid-vapor critical point of a simple fluid or as that at the critical
demixing point of a binary liquid mixture. When such conditions are present, as first suggested by
Fisher and de Gennes [3], an additional component adds up to the already acting forces if any, resulting
from the critical fluctuation of the medium. This new contribution is of a long-ranged character and
strongly depends on the boundary conditions which the bodies immersed in the medium impose on it
at their surfaces. Since this fluctuation-induced force (FIF) depends additionally only on some gross
features of the fluid medium [4, 5] it can be treated as universal in nature. One can make a parallel
with the force between neutral bodies due to the quantum and temperature fluctuations of the charge
distributions in them, i.e., of the electromagnetic field, which force is known today under the general
name of quantum electrodynamic (QED) Casimir force [6–8]. Because of this analogy it became
customary to term the fluctuation part FCas of the total force near Tc critical Casimir force [4, 5].
In a medium where both quantum and thermodynamical fluctuations are present, Ftot can be
(reg) (sing)
thought as a sum of a regular background Ftot and a singular Ftot contributions. The first de-
pends in an analytic way on the parameters characterizing the medium, whereas the latter emerges
due to the critical fluctuations of the medium, respectively. Therefore
(reg) (sing)
Ftot = Ftot + Ftot . (1)

Undoubtedly, if a system is composed out of objects, where at least one has nonplanar geometry, its
excess grand canonical potential Ωex (T, µ|L, · · · ), or excess free energy, will show dependance on
some specific geometrical characteristics like L, R and H in the case considered here. Thus we have

∂
Ftot = − Ωex (L|T, µ, · · · ). (2)
∂L
It is normal to equate
(sing) (reg)
FCas ≡ Ftot (L|T, µ) and FvdW ≡ Ftot (L|T, µ), (3)

since the dispersion van der Waals interactions, ubiquitous for any system, are not influenced by the
thermodynamic fluctuations.
In the past few decades the rapid development of the experimental techniques led to the emergence
of the field of nanotechnology, where fluctuation-induced phenomena, bearing in mind the vdWF and
QED CF, play a dominant role between neutral nonmagnetic objects when placed at distances less than
a micrometer. The general theory of the FIFs with quantum character together with the subsequent
experiments for its validation, have shown undeniably that these forces lead to irreversible, usually
undesirable phenomena, such as stiction (i.e., irreversible adhesion) or pull-in due to mechanical
instabilities [9–11] when the interactions take place in vacuum or gas medium. Moreover the weight
of a particle becomes negligible when its size is scaled below a micrometer. As a result, when one
tries to release such a neutral particle from, say, the surface of whatever handling device in air or

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vacuum, the particle will not drop down under the gravity but, instead, will stick to the surface due
to the effect of the omnipresent vdWF. In that respect it seems adequate to introduce some fluid
medium, which properties can lead to modification of the net interaction between the manipulated
particle and the operating device, sometimes called gripper, in such a way that it is repulsive at short
distances between the handling surfaces and the particle and attractive at larger ones. In the light
of a potential experimental realization the choice of a chemically inert fluid medium absent of free
changes dissolved in it seems suitable, since from one side any complications with isolation of all
possible circuitry at small distances will be minimized, and on the other no chemical reactions with
the substances of the particles will take place. That leads us to choose as a fluid a nonpolar liquefied
noble gas that has critical parameters as close as possible to the normal ones.
In the current article we will demonstrate that by proper choice of the materials (cores) of the
colloid particles and the handling surface of a gripper it is indeed possible to achieve control over the
net interaction (TF) as well as the CCF between the surface and the particle by simply changing T
and µ. We must note that so far the behaviour of the CCF has never been studied in the geometry
under consideration here, namely the interaction between a cone and a plate. Let us also stress that
due to its unique temperature dependence, the CCF allows in situ control of reversible assembly in
soft matter and nanoscience. A further advantage of the force is that both its magnitude and range
of action depends on the separation between the objects and the thermodynamic parameters of the
fluctuating medium. The last facts can potentially be used in controlling the properties of colloidal
suspensions and for governing the behavior of objects at small, below micrometer, distances.
The content of the article is arranged as follows. In Subsec. 2.1 we present some basic results
of the finite-size scaling theory. In Subsec. 2.2 we recall and comment on the finite-size behaviour
of systems with dispersion forces extending the known facts to the expected behaviour of the CCF,
vdWF and TF when they act between pair of parallel plates. By doing so, we introduce the general
technique, namely the "surface integration approach" (SIA) (Subsec. 2.3), within which we study the
commented spectrum of forces. Section 3 briefly presents the corresponding lattice-gas model suitable
for the investigation of fluid media with account of the long-ranged van der Waals interactions. Here
we present the equation for the equilibrium profile of the finite-size order parameter, identify the
main coupling parameters characterizing the interactions in the systems, which enter in it, and give
the general expressions used to calculate the CCF and TF. The article ends with Sec. 4, where we
present the exact equations (Subsec. 4.1) used to obtain the numerical results for the behaviour of the
investigated forces, and comment them in details in Subsec. 4.2.

2 Theoretical background
2.1 General predictions of the finite-size scaling theory

If an object of certain shape is introduced in a medium, it alters its thermodynamic behaviour in such
a way that any quantitative occurrence shows dependance on the penetration depth of the symmetry
breaking effect into the volume. The range to which this effect is felt within the system depends
both on the scope of the interactions and on that of the correlations between the fluctuations in the
fluid, which mediate the interactions between the bodies. The range of the correlations is set by
the correlation length ξ of the order parameter of the medium. This quantity becomes large, and
theoretically diverges, at the vicinity of the bulk critical point (Tc , µc ): ξ (T → Tc+ , µ = µc )  ξ0+t −ν ,
where t = (T − Tc )/Tc , and ξ (T = Tc , µ → µc )  ξ0,µ |∆µ/(kB Tc )|−ν/∆ , where ∆µ = µ − µc . Here ν
and ∆ are the usual critical exponents which, for classical fluids, are those of the three-dimensional
Ising model, and ξ0+ and ξ0,µ are the corresponding nonuniversal amplitudes of the correlation length
along the t and µ axes. When ξ becomes comparable to the characteristic dimension of the system,

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say the separation L between the objects, the size dependence of the thermodynamic functions enters
into the thermodynamic potentials through the ratio L/ξ , and takes a scaling form given by the finite-
size scaling theory [5].
In the remainder we are going to study a system governed by long-ranged dispersion interactions
utilizing the recently introduced "surface integration approach" [12]. For this purpose we will need
the corresponding results for a system with a film geometry that is governed by the same interactions
in question. That is why we are next going to concisely recall these topics. We start with the behavior
of the thermodynamic Casimir force in nonpolar fluid systems with plane parallel geometry, in which
the dispersion forces are accounted for.

2.2 Influence of the dispersion forces on the thermodynamic Casimir one in nonpolar
fluid systems with film geometry
We consider a fluid system consisting of a nonpolar medium M comprising two thick parallel plates
of materials S1 and S2 which are coated by thin solid films of substances L1 and L2 , respectively – see
Fig. 1(a) in [1]. If the fluid medium is in contact with a particle reservoir with a chemical potential
µ, the grand canonical potential Ωex (L|T, µ) per unite area A of this medium in excess to its bulk
value A Lωbulk (T, µ) depends on the film thickness L and, thus, one can define the total effective force
Ftot (L|T, µ) [in a full accord with Eq. (2)], which is due to fluctuations of the medium and dispersion
interactions in it. Here ωbulk (T, µ) is the density of the bulk grand canonical potential, and A is the
surface area of the plates.
The contribution of the dispersion forces to the total effective force Eq. (2) can be distinguished
from that of the CCF by their temperature dependence, because the leading such of the former does not
exhibit a singularity. Thus, one can perform the aforementioned decompositions and identifications
given in Eqs. (1) and (3).

If the system is away from its bulk critical point, for the occurring force ftot (L|T, µ) per cross
section area A and kB T ≡ β −1 is customary to write the following expression

ftot (L|T, µ)  (σ − 1)β HA (T, µ)L−σ ϑ σ −d ,


(4)
where, for dimensional reasons, the microscopic length scale ϑ is introduced. Let us note that one
normally considers the case d = σ and, thus, omits the apparent dependence of this length, that can
be taken to be, e.g., the so-called retardation length [12, 13] ξret . In Eq. (4) HA is the Hamaker term,
whose dependence from the temperature and chemical potential is given by the so-called Hamaker
constant [14, 15] (for details see the Appendix in [2]).
As already explained above, upon approaching the bulk critical point of the system the fluctuations
of the order parameter of the confined fluid medium exhibit strong correlations which gives rise to new
contribution to the TF, the CCF (see below). In the vicinity of this point (critical region) Eq. (4) is no
longer valid. Following [2], it becomes
  
ftot (L|T, µ)  L−d Xcrit xt , xµ , xl , {xsi , i = 1, 2} , xg + (σ − 1)β HA (T, µ)L−σ ϑ σ −d .

(5)
  1/ν  ∆/ν
Here Xcrit is dimensionless, universal scaling function, xt = t L/ξ0+ and xµ = β ∆µ L/ξ0,µ
are the temperature and field relevant in renormalization group sense scaling variables, whereas xl ,
xsi , i = 1, 2 and xg are irrelevant scaling variables associated with the interactions in the system.
Explicitly these variables are defined in the text below Eq. (2.6) in [2].
According to the scaling hypothesis of the CCF one expects that near the bulk critical point
 
fCas (L|T, µ) = L−d XCas (xt , xµ , · · · ), (6)

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where XCas is a scaling function, that for large enough L with fixed xt = O(1) and xµ = O(1) ap-

proaches the scaling function of the short-ranged system XCas,sr (xt , xµ ) (for details see Eqs. (2.12) and
(4.10) in [2]). From Eqs. (1) and (3), together with Eq. (5) follows that the scaling function of the
  (sing)
CCF XCas is proportional to the sum of Xcrit and the singular part of the Hamaker term HA (T, µ).
The last implies that in order to determine the CF in systems with dispersion interaction one has to
decompose the contribution captured through the Hamaker term in a singular and a regular parts, i.e.
(reg) (sing)
HA (T, µ) = HA (T, µ) + HA (T, µ). (7)

Thus, with d = σ one has  

  (sing)
fCas = L−d Xcrit + (d − 1)β HA , (8)

while FvdW from Eq. (3), normalized per unit area, in the general case coincides with Eq. (4), with
(reg)
HA ≡ HA .
In what follows, we are going to present results for the CCF, vdWF and TF in the cases of cone-
plate system, utilizing the knowledge gained from studies of the corresponding interactions between
parallel plates.

2.3 The van der Waals and Casimir forces for a cone-plate geometry within the SIA

The most common approach used to calculate geometry dependent interaction energy or force in
systems where at least one of the objects has a nonplanar geometry, is that first proposed by B. Der-
jaguin in 1934 [16]. The Derjaguin approximation (DA) suggests that one can relate the interaction
force/potential between two gently curved colloidal particles with the knowledge for that between a
pair of parallel plates, provided that the separation between the colloids is much smaller than their
geometrical characteristics. This restriction imposes certain limitations on the usage of the DA. The
necessity of more general technique as an improvement of the DA, led to the proposal of the co-called
"surface integration approach" reported in [12]. It has been used there to study van der Waals inter-
actions between objects of arbitrary shape and a plate of arbitrary thickness. It delivers exact results
if the interactions involved can be described by pair potentials. The main advantage of this approach
over the DA is that one is no longer bound by the restriction that the interacting objects must be much
closer to each other than their characteristic sizes. The main result is that for the force acting between
a 3D object (say a colloid particle) B ≡ {(x, y, z), (x, y, z) ∈ B} of general shape S(x, y) = z and a flat
surface bounded by the (x, y)−plane of a Cartesian coordinate system, one has
   
B,|  
FSIA (L) = fA [S(x, y)]dxdy − away
fA [S(x, y)]dxdy, (9)
Ato
S AS

 away
where AS is the projection of the surface S of the particle over the (x, y)− plane, AS = Ato S AS .
Equation (9) has a very simple intuitive meaning: in order to determine the force acting on the particle
one has to subtract from the contributions stemming from surface regions Ato S that "face towards" the
away away
projection plane those from regions AS that "face away" from it, where Ato S and AS are the
projections of the corresponding parts of the surface of the body on the (x, y)−plane. It is clear that if
one takes into account only the contributions over AtoS one obtains expression very similar to the DA.
Both expressions in that case will differ only by the fact that while Eq. (9) takes into account that the
force on a given point of S is along the normal to the surface at that point, the standard DA does not
take this into account. Let us recall that Eq. (9) provides exact results for the interaction under the
assumption that the constituents of the body interact via pair potentials. This is, of course, not the case

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of CCF. It is, however, clear that under mechanical equilibrium of the colloid in the fluid, the CCF
is again along the normal to the surface at the point of the surface where it acts. Thus, one can get a
reasonably good approximation to the effect of that force by keeping just the integration over the part
of the surface of the body that faces the plane. This leads to
 
B,| 
β FCas,SIA (L) = fCas [S(x, y)]dxdy. (10)
Ato
S

nr
R
r dz
H nr ez H
nr ez
r dz
z
z R nr
L L
dS dS
z z
x x
(a) y (b) y
Figure 1. Geometry of the SIA for the interaction between a right circular cone and a plate, in several orientations
of the conic particle. The conical shape is characterized by its base radius R and height H. In (a) the cone’s base
is toward the plate, and the separation between them is L. The z-component ez of the normal vector nr is with a
plus sign on the lateral surface, and with a minus sign on the base where nr ≡ −ez . If one moves along a slant
height, from the cone’s apex towards its base, he/she’ll notice that ez changes sign with a jump, when the edge
is reached. Thus the general expression for the force has the form Eq. (11). The projection of the infinitesimal
area dS of the lateral surface is between two concentric circumference with radiuses r and r + dr and center lying
on H. The considerations made is case (a) are altogether applicable for the case where the apex of the cone is
toward the plate (b).

Now if one applies Eq. (9) for the case of a conical colloidal particle which base is toward the
plate (|) [see Fig. 1(a)], with the assumption that the interaction is induced by point-like sources,
the result reads

| R2 L+H  
FSIA (L) = −2π 2 (L + H − z) fA (z)dz + πR2 fA (L). (11)
H L
The term (· · · ) in the integrand of Eq. (11) reflects how the projection to the normal to the surface of
the cone in this specific orientation changes as a function of z. Substituting Eq. (4) [see also the text
below Eq. (8)] in the above expression for the van der Waals cone-plate interaction we can write
 
| 1 (L + H)2−σ + L1−σ [H(σ − 2) − L]
FvdW,SIA (L) = 2πR2 (σ − 1)HA ϑ σ −3
(reg)
− . (12)
2Lσ H 2 (σ − 1)(σ − 2)

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The corresponding expression for the CCF arising between a cone and a plate for this specific geom-
etry, following Eq. (10), can then be written as
|  
β FCas,SIA (L) = πR2 fCas (L) = πR2 L−3 XCas (xt , xµ , · · · ). (13)

The general expression within the SIA, for any geometry conditioned force in a system composed
out of a cone which apex faces the plate (|) the cone interacts with [see Fig. 1(b)], has the form
 L+H
| R2  
FSIA (L) = 2π (z − L) fA (z)dz − πR2 fA (L + H). (14)
H2 L

Hence for the vdWF with a free varying interaction decay parameter σ one obtains the following
expression
 
| R2 2 2L2 + 2LHσ + H 2 (σ − 1)σ
FvdW,SIA (L) = πHA ϑ σ −3 2
(reg)
− , (15)
H (σ − 2) Lσ −2 (L + H)σ
whereas restricting the integration only over the surface of the cone which faces the plate, i.e., confines
the fluctuations of the fluid medium, one writes for the CCF
 L+H
| R2 z−L  R2 |
β FCas,SIA (L) = 2π XCas [xt (z), xµ (z), · · · ]dz ≡ 2π X (H|xt , xµ , · · · ). (16)
H2 L z3 H 2 Cas,SIA

Last we deliver the equations describing the interactions in a cone-plate system, with the consid-
eration that the height of the cone is parallel to the plate (|) (see Fig. 2). Therefore for the general
expression and those for the vdWF and CCF one has
 L+R    L+2R   
| z−L  z−L 
FSIA (L) = 2H 1− F+ (z) fA (z)dz − − 1 F− (z) fA (z)dz , (17a)
L R L+R R
where   
R+ (z − L)(L + 2R − z)
F± (z) = ln . (17b)
±(L + R − z)
When one considers the standard [non-retarded (London)] van der Waals interaction σ = 3

| (reg) 2πHR2
FvdW,SIA (L|3) = HA , (17c)
(L + R)[L(L + 2R)]3/2
while for the retarded (Casimir-Polder) one σ = 4 and the force becomes

| (reg) πHR2 (2L + R)(2L + 3R)

FvdW,SIA (L|4) = HA ϑ . (17d)
(L + R)2 [L(L + 2R)]5/2
In view of Eqs. (10) and (17a) for the CCF in this specific geometry one finds
 L+R  
| z − L F+ (z) 
FCas,SIA (L) = 2H 1− XCas [xt (z), xµ (z), · · · ]dz
L R z3 (17e)
|
≡ 2HXCas,SIA (R|xt , xµ , · · · ).

If interested, the reader can refer to Appendix A.2 of [18] for the detail derivation of the infinites-
imal area elements appearing in Eqs. (11), (14) and (17a).

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ez dz
nr
x1 ≡ H
R
nr
z -ez
L z
Fо a x
y1 y
dS b

Figure 2. Geometry of the surface integration approach for the interaction between a right circular cone and a
plate, when the orientation of the cone is such that H is parallel to the plate. In this scenario the infinitesimal
projection dS is the area enclosed between two hyperbolae. In order to obtain an expression for dS, we make
use of the expression of the area enclosed between a hyperbola and a line parallel to the y-axis (see p. 323 in
[17]) S = x1 y1 − ln [(x1 /a) + (y1 /b)]. Here x1 and y1 are the coordinates of the point of intersection between the
hyperbola√and the line, a is the distance between the hyperbola’s apex and the beginning of the coordinate frame,
and b= e2 − a2 (e – the separation between the focus Fo of the hyperbola and the beginning of the coordinate
frame).

Since SIA utilize the knowledge of the behavior of the force per unit area arising between a pair of
parallel plates, in the following section we present the corresponding model within which we describe
such a system. Because the included expressions have already been presented in details in [2], here
only key results, as well some notations, are going to be given which will be needed in the remainder
of the article.

3 The model
As explained in [2], we consider a lattice-gas model of a fluid confined between two planar plates,
separated at a distance L from each other, with grand canonical potential Ω [ρ(r)] given by
1
Ω [ρ(r)] = kB T ∑ {ρ(r) ln [ρ(r)] + [1 − ρ(r)] ln [1 − ρ(r)]} + 2 ∑ ρ(r)wl (r − r )ρ(r )
r∈M  r,r ∈M
  (18)
+ ∑ V (s1 |l|s2 ) (z) − µ ρ(r),
r∈M

where M is a simple cubic lattice in the region occupied by the fluid medium – ∞d−1 × [0, L] and
V (s1 |l|s2 ) (z) is an external potential that reflects the interactions between the confining plates and the
constituents of the fluid. In Eq. (18) wl (r − r ) = −4J l (r − r ) is the nonlocal coupling (interaction
potential) between the constituents of the confined medium and µ is the chemical potential. All length
scales here and in the remainder are taken in units of the lattice constant a0 , so that the particle number

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density ρ(r) becomes a number which varies in the range [0, 1]. We recall that in the framework of
a mean-field treatment with respect to the critical behavior the effective spatial dimension is d = 4,
irrespective of the actual dimension of the model under consideration.
In Eq. (18)

V (s1 |l|s2 ) (z) = −ρs1 Jsrs1 ,l δ (z) − ρs2 Jsrs2 ,l δ (L − z) + vs1 (z + 1)−σ + vs2 (L + 1 − z)−σ , (19)

where vsi = −G(d, σ )ρsi J si ,l , i = 1, 2, with

 1+σ 
Γ 2
G(d, σ ) = 4π (d−1)/2  d+σ , (20)
σΓ 2

and δ (x) is the discrete delta function;

J l θ (|r| − 1)
J l (r) = Jsrl {δ (|r|) + δ (|r| − 1)} + , (21)
1 + |r|d+σ

is a proper lattice version of −wl (r)/4 as the interaction energy between the fluid particles, and

J si ,l θ (|r| − 1)
J si ,l (r) = Jsrsi ,l δ (|r| − 1) + , i = 1, 2 (22)
|r|d+σ

is the one between a fluid particle and a substrate particle, θ (x) is the Heaviside step function with the
convention θ (0) = 0.
Taking into account the translational symmetry of the system along the bounding surfaces, the
variation with respect to ρ(r) leads to an equation of state for the equilibrium density ρ ∗ (r) =
[1 + φ ∗ (r)]/2, where φ (r) ≡ φ r , z = φ (z), with r = r , z is the local order parameter profile
{φ (z), 0 ≤ z ≤ L}. In terms of φ (z) the equation of state can be written in the following form

β 
arctanh [φ ∗ (z)] = [∆µ − ∆V (z)] + K ad,σ (λ ) φ ∗ (z) + ann
d,σ (λ ) [φ (z + 1) + φ (z − 1)]
∗ ∗
2 
L (23)
+λ ∑ gd,σ (|z − z |)θ (|z − z | − 1)φ ∗ (z ) ,
z =0


where ∆µ = µ − µc , K = β Jsrl , ad,σ (λ ) = (2d − 1) + λ (cd,σ − d) and ann nn

d,σ (λ ) = 1.0 + λ (cd,σ − 0.5)
nn nn  nn 
with cd,σ = gd,σ (1) + gd,σ (±1). The functions cd,σ , gd,σ (|z − z |) and gd,σ (|z − z |) are determined in
Eqs. (C10), (C11) and (C12) of [19], respectively.
The excess grand canonical potential per unit area, ωex ≡ limA →∞ [Ω/A ] − Lωbulk , has the form

L     
1   1   1 ∗ 1 + φ ∗ (z) 1 1 + φb
β ωex = ∑ ln 1 − φ ∗
(z)2
− ln 1 − φ 2
b + φ (z) ln
1 − φ ∗ (z)
− φb ln
1 − φb
z=0 2 2 4 4
 (24)
β β ∆µ ∗
+ ∆V (z)φ ∗ (z) − [φ (z) − φb ] + β ωreg ,
2 2

where   σ −d
K 1 ϑ
β (σ − 1)ωreg = (s1,c + s2,c ) − G(d, σ )Kλ . (25)
Kc 4 Lσ −1

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MATEC Web of Conferences 145, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201814501008
NCTAM 2017

Here φb is the bulk value of the order parameter (see Eq. (4.2) in [2]), Kc = βc Jsrl and si,c , i = 1, 2
are the values of the plates-fluid coupling parameters evaluated at the bulk critical point of the system
{β = βc = [∑r J l (r)]−1 , µ = µc = −2 ∑r J l (r), with the sum running over the whole lattice}.
The effective surface potential β ∆V (z)/2 in Eqs. (23) and (24) is given by
β s1 s2
∆V (z) = σ
+ , (26)
2 (z + 1) (L + 1 − z)σ
where 1 ≤ z ≤ L − 1 and  
1
si = β G(d, σ ) ρsi J si ,l − ρc J l , i = 1, 2 (27)
2
are the (T - and µ-independent) dimensionless plates-fluid coupling parameters ∝ xsi . In Eq. (26)
the restriction z ≥ 1 holds because we consider the layers closest to the substrate to be completely
occupied by the liquid phase of the fluid, i.e., φ (0) = φ (L) = 1, thus ensuring the (+, +) boundary
conditions. Physically this can be accomplished by choosing a proper coating of the surfaces of the
plates. The coupling parameter λ ∝ xl probes the importance of the long-ranged parts of the interaction
potential within the fluid medium
λ = J l /Jsrl . (28)
In Eq. (27) si > 0, i.e., ρsi J si ,l > ρc J l corresponds to plates "preferring" the "liquid" phase of the fluid,
while si < 0, or ρsi J si ,l < ρc J l mirrors the one with affinity to its "gas" phase. If the interactions
between the constituents of the fluid are of Lennard-Jones type one has λ = 2, as commented in Refs.
[2, 19]. The marginal case si = 0 together with λ = 0 describes a pure short-range system (for details
refer to Eqs. (4.10) and the text therein in [2]).
The expressions given so far provide the basis of the model that will be used to determine the
cone-plate interactions in the remainder.

Using Eqs. (2) and (24) for the total force ftot (L|T, µ) (per unit area A and kB T ) acting between
parallel plates bounding the fluid medium the following expression can be written

 β 4Ks1,c s2,c −σ σ −d
ftot (L|T, µ) = − [ωex (L + 1|T, µ) − ωex (L − 1|T, µ)] − L ϑ , (29)
2 G(d, σ )Kc2 λ
where the last term represents the direct interaction between the plates (for details see the Appendix in
[2]). On the other hand, if one subtracts from the potential ωex its regular part ωreg , i.e., if we consider
the quantity
∆ω ≡ lim [(Ω − Ωreg )/A ] − Lωbulk , (30)
A →∞
then, in accord with Eqs. (1) – (3), the L dependence of ∆ω via Eq. (2) provides the singular part of

the total force, i.e., fCas (L|T, µ). Explicitly, one has

 β
fCas (L|T, µ) = − [∆ω(L + 1|T, µ) − ∆ω(L − 1|T, µ)] . (31)
2
Thus, near Tc the TF and the CCF are related via the expression

ϑ σ −d ,
  (reg) −σ
ftot (L|T, µ) = fCas (L|T, µ) + (σ − 1)β HA L (32)
where the last term is the mathematical equivalent of FvdW in Eq. (3) per unit area A and kB T for a
(reg)
film geometry with HA being the nonsingular (regular) part of the Hamaker term given by

(reg) 4Ks1,c s2,c K 1

(σ − 1)β HA =− + (s1,c + s2,c ) − G(d, σ )Kλ . (33)
G(d, σ )Kc2 λ Kc 4

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NCTAM 2017

For the singular part of HA within the presented model the following expression was derived (see Eq.
(A6) in [2])
K 1
(T, µ) = (s1,c + s2,c )φb − G(d, σ )Kλ φb2 ,
(sing)
(σ − 1)β HA (34)
Kc 4
where the T and µ dependance is carried by the bulk order parameter φb (see Eq. (4.2) in [2]).
In the next section, based on the results reported in Subsec. 2.2 and Sec. 3, we present numerical
results for the behaviour of the above discussed forces in cone-plate fluid system for the cases d =
σ = 3.

4 Results

In this section, using the results for d = σ = 4 from the mean-field type numerical study discussed in
the text above, together with the SIA approximation, we will present some results for the behavior of
the CCF, vdWF and TF between a conical particle and a plate for several orientations of the colloid
with respect to the smooth planar substrate in d = 3. As it became clear from the above shown
equations, the key knowledge which is required for the desired calculations to be performed, is the
force [scaling function(s)] per unit area between two parallel plates, for many different separations L,
and at various values of T and µ of the fluctuating fluid medium.
Within the mean-field theory the T and µ dependance of the corresponding forces near the bulk
critical point (T = Tc , ∆µ = 0) is given by the temperature and field scaling variables xt and xµ ,
respectively [see the text beneath Eq. (5)], with ν = 1/2 and ∆ = 3/2. In our numerical
 treatment we
take these variables to range in the intervals: xt ∈ −242 ; 242 and xµ ∈ −243 ; 243 . For the study of
the scaling function of the CCF, the separation L between the set of parallel plates is varied from 20 to
60 with step 2, from 25 to 95 with step 5 and from 70 to 200 with step 10. In order to demonstrate the
effect of the sign change of the considered forces and in view of potential experimental realization of
the predicted effects we choose the following values of the coupling parameters: s1 = 1.0, s2 = −0.01
and λ = 2.0. The physical argumentation of the so chosen values is explained in Section IV C of [1].

4.1 Calculation of the forces in the cone-plate system within the SIA in d = 3

From Eq. (12), considering only genuine van der Waals interactions (d = σ ) in d = 3, one has that
within the SIA the force is calculated via the following expression

| ΞH
Lβ FvdW,SIA (L)/πΞ2R = 2β HA
(reg)
, (35)
1 + ΞH

where we have introduced the notations ΞR ≡ R/L and ΞH ≡ H/L. Accordingly for the CCF from
Eq. (13) one can write
| 
Lβ FCas,SIA (L)/πΞ2R = XCas (xt , xµ , · · · ), (36)
i.e. its behavior coincides with that of the plate-plate scaling function obtained for a desired separation
L.
For the forces of interest in the remaining configurations one has:
(i) from Eq. (15) with σ = 3 the following

| ΞH
Lβ FvdW,SIA (L)/πΞ2R = 2β HA
(reg)
. (37a)
(1 + ΞH )3

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NCTAM 2017

(ii) With the use of Eq. (16), one can evaluate the scaling function entering there and hence the
CCF vie
 Λ1 jmax −1  Λi
|
I | (z̄|Λ1 )XCas [a1 (z̄)]dz̄ + ∑ I | (z̄|Λi )XCas [ai (z̄)]dz̄
 
XCas,SIA =
1 i= j+1 Λi−1
 1+ΞH (37b)
| 2 |
I | (z̄|Λmax )XCas [amax (z̄)]dz̄,

+ with Lβ FCas,SIA /πΞ2R = 2 XCas,SIA
Λmax ΞH

where
z̄ − 1
I | (z̄|Λ j ) = θ (ΞH − Λ j ), (37c)
z̄3
with Λ j ≡ L j /L, j = 1, jmax ; z̄ ≡ z/L is dimensionless variable; Lmax ≡ L jmax is the largest
system for which numerical data are available, the arguments of the scaling function [a j (z̄)] 
[xt (Lz; j ), xµ (Lz; j ), ...], Lz; j ≡ z̄L j and θ is the Heaviside step function with the convention θ (0) = 0.
In the calculations performed in the current article Lmax = 200.
(iii) Last we give the expressions used to evaluate the vdWF and the CCF for the case when the
height of the cone is parallel to the plate. Indeed, performing the dimensionalization with respect to L
in Eq. (17c) we have

| ΞH
Lβ FvdW,SIA (L)/πΞ2R = 2β HA
(reg)
. (38a)
(1 + 2ΞR )3/2 (1 + ΞR )

(iv) For the scaling function of the CCF from Eq. (17e), one has
 Λ1 jmax −1  Λi
∑
|  
XCas,SIA = I | (z̄|Λ1 )XCas [a1 (z̄)]dz̄ + I | (z̄|Λi )XCas [ai (z̄)]dz̄
1 i= j+1 Λi−1
 1+ΞR (38b)
 | 2ΞH |
+ I | (z̄|Λmax )XCas [amax (z̄)]dz̄, with Lβ FCas,SIA /πΞ2R = X
Λmax πΞ2R Cas,SIA

where  
z̄ − 1 F+ (z̄)
I | (z̄|Λ j ) = 1 − θ (ΞR − Λ j ). (38c)
ΞR z̄3
 
In the above expressions the critical component Xcrit of the scaling function XCas calculated within
the mean-field theory is normalized by the procedure described in-and-out in Section V of [2], so that
it contributes properly to the CCF and hence to the total force of interaction when d < 4. The need of
such normalization is explained in details in [19] (see there Sections IV.A.1 and IV.A.3).
After presenting the mathematical means to calculate the CCF and vdWF, we now pass to the
detailed discussion of the results and argumentation of the experimental feasibility of the parameters
used in the model calculations utilizing the SIA.

4.2 Discussion and concluding remarks

In the present section for physical reasons related to future experimental studies we will assume that
the conical particle has either ruthenium (Ru) or platinum (Pt) core, while the planar substrate is
made either of carbon (C) or silica (SiO2 ) aerogels. The contact surface of any of the interacting
objects is considered coated by monolayer of lead (Pb) or thallium nitride (TlN) to ensure the (+,+)
boundary conditions. Finally, we complete the so assembled system by adopting xenon (Xe) as the

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MATEC Web of Conferences 145, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201814501008
NCTAM 2017

(a)
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
▼▼▼▼ ▼ ▼
● ● ●
▼
● ● ●
▼ ▼ ▼▼▼▼ ● ●
● ▼ ● ●
● ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ■ ■ ■ ■
● ■ ■ ■
● ●

● ▼ ▼
● ● ● ● ● ●
● ● ● ● ● ●
●●●●● ●

●●■ ■
0 ●
●
●

▼▼ ■
●
●
0.4 ● ● ● ● ●●●
●●

●
● ●

■
●

●
● ●

●
● ● ● ● ●

●
● ●

● ▼▼ ■ ■
●
■
●

●
▼▼
●

-1
●

●
■
●

●
-●- LβcFtot,SIA /πΞ2R
●

⊲
▼
●
●

▼▼▼▼▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
●

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
●

▼ ▼ ▼
●

■
0.2 ●
●
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
● ●

● ●
■
●
●●

●
●●

●
●●

●
●●

-2
●
●●

-■- LβcFcrit,SIA /πΞ2R

⊲
0.0 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■
s1,c=1.0,
●●

■ ■ ■
●

LβcFSIA/πΞ2R
●
LβFSIA/πΞ2R

■ ●
●
●●●●●●●●● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

●
■ ■ ■
●
s1,c=1.0, ■ -●- LβFtot,SIA /πΞ2R s2,c=-0.01,
⊲
■
-0.2 ■
● ●
-3
●
■ ■ -▼- Lβc(Fsing,SIA +FvdW,SIA )/πΞ2R
⊲ ⊲
s2,c=-0.01, λ=2.0,

⊲
⊲

-■- LβFcrit,SIA /πΞ2R

● ⊲
■ ● ■
-0.4 λ=2.0, ● ■
●
■● -▼- Lβ(Fsing,SIA +FvdW,SIA )/πΞ2R -4 --- LβcFCas,SIA /πΞR2
⊲ ⊲ T=Tc, ⊲
●
μ=μc, ■ ●■
-0.6 ■●
L=20,
■ --- LβFCas,SIA /πΞ2R ΞH =1
⊲
■●●
-5 ••••• LβcFsing,SIA /πΞ2R
(b)
L=20, ⊲
■ ■
ΞH =1
●
■ •••••• LβFsing,SIA /πΞR2
⊲ ■
●
-0.8 ■■
-200 -100 0 100 200 300 -2000 -1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500
xt =t(L/ξ0+)1/ν x μ=βcΔμ(L/ξ0,μ )Δ/ν

Figure 3. Behaviour of the discussed forces (multiplied by the separation L and normalized by kB T and the
area of the cones’s base πΞ2R ) in d = 3 for the case where the base of the cone is facing the plate the cone
interacts with. On both figures the interplay between the critical Fcrit,SIA (----) and singular Fsing,SIA (• • •)
| |

| |
components of the net Casimir force FCas,SIA (− − −) is shown, as well as that between FCas,SIA and the van der
Waals interaction FvdW,SIA (----) resulting in the total force Ftot,SIA (--•--). On (a) the temperature dependance at
| |

∆µ = 0.0, (xµ = 0.0) is depicted, while on (b) that of the field one at T = Tc , (xt = 0.0). The minimal separation
between the objects confining the fluid medium is taken L = 20, where the cones’s normalized height is taken
ΞH = 1 and the parameters characterizing the interactions in the systems have the following values: λ = 2.0,
s2,c = −0.01 and s1,c = 1.0.

critical fluctuating medium in which the interacting objects are immersed. For detail comment and
argumentation on the choice of the presented substances the reader can refer to [1].

We open the discussion with the results presented on Fig. 3. Here the interplay between all
of the aforementioned forces is clearly depicted. For the chosen separation L = 20a0  12 nm and
|
substances, characterized by the set of coupling parameters {s1,c ; s2,c ; λ }, Fcrit,SIA is negative for any
value of xt and xµ , i.e., it corresponds to attraction between the cone and the plate in the entire
temperature and filed intervals. Here a0 is the distance between the xenon atoms at the critical point.
From the data used here one can estimate that at T = 1.0058Tc this component of the Casimir force
reaches its minimum, with a value of −0.9Ξ2R pN. With regard only to Fig. 3(a), at ∆µ = 0 for
(reg)
T > Tc one has φb = 0 and hence, substituting Eq. (34) instead of HA into Eq. (35) we see that
|
Fsing,SIA is zero. On the other hand for T < Tc the bulk order parameter φb  0 as the singular part
|
of the Hamaker term (and consequently Fsing,SIA ) corresponds to repulsion. Therefore, the behavior
| | |
of net Casimir interaction FCas,SIA = Fsing,SIA + Fcrit,SIA coincides with that of its critical component
above Tc , but one observes a single sign change at T = 0.9805Tc in the "liquid" phase of the fluid.
| |
The superposition between the vdWF FvdW,SIA and Fsing,SIA , leads to interaction which is positive
for any temperature and shows explicit decrease with the increase of the temperature like T −1 [see
|
Eqs. (33) and (34)]. As a result the total force Ftot,SIA becomes repulsive outside the critical region,
changes sign twice at T1 = 0.9901Tc and T2 = 1.036Tc after which turns attractive only near the critical
point. It reaches minimum for Tmin = 1.0061Tc , which magnitude is −0.71Ξ2R pN. The nature of this
observation is dictated by the increased correlations between the fluctuations in the fluid close to Tc .

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MATEC Web of Conferences 145, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201814501008
NCTAM 2017

(a)
●
●
●
●
L=20, s1,c=1.0, s2,c=-0.01, λ=2.0, T=Tc ●
■
●
■
■
■ ▼ ●
▼ ▼
●
▲
▼ ▲
▼ ▲
▼ ▲
▼ ▲ ▲ ▼
▲ ▲ ▲▲▲▲
▲▼■▼
■▼
▲ ▲
● ▲ ▲ ▲
● ■ ■ ■ ▼ ▼ ▼
L=20, s1,c=1.0, s2,c=-0.01, λ=2.0, μ=μc
1.0
● ■●●
▼ ▼ ▼▼■
●
0 ● ■
■ ■ ● ● ● ●
■ ■ ■ ● ■ ●

-2 -●- ΞH =1
■ ■ ■
0.5 ■ ■● ● ■ ●

LβcFtot,SIA/πΞ2R ⨯ 10-1
■ ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
LβFtot,SIA/πΞ2R ⨯ 10-1

●
● ●
▼ ▼
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼▼ ■
● ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
▼ ▼■ ●
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲▼ -4 -■- ΞH =2
■
▲ ▲ ▼▲
▲▲▲▼▲▲▲▲▲▼ ▼▲
■▲ ▼ ▲
▼▲ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲
▼ ▼▲ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▲▼ ▲ ▼ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ■ ■
▼▲ ▼
▼▼▼ ● 0.20▼ ■ ■ ▼ ▼ ■●
●■▼ ▼
(a')
0.2
0.0
▼ ▼ ■ ■
●
▼
●
▼ ■ ▲
-●- ΞH =1
●
■ ▲ ▲
▼▼ ■ 0.0▲
▼ ▲
▼ ▲ ▲
▲▼▲▲
▲
▲
■ ● ▼ ■
-6 ▼ ▲ ▼■
▼● -▼- ΞH =5
-0.5 ▲▲▲
0.15

■■ ▼■ ● ■
▼
■ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
■ ▲▲■
-■- ΞH =2 ▼ ▼▼ ▼ ▼
●
0.05▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ● ▼
-0.2
■
0.10
■ ▼
▲▲ ■●
▲ ▼▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲
■ ▲ ▼

⊳
▼
-8 -▲- ΞH =10
■ ■
⊳

■▲ ▲▲ ● -0.4 ■
-1.0 ▲▲
● ●
-▼- ΞH =5
● ■●
▼▲▼
■ ●
0.00

● -0.05 ■ ▼ ■ ●
■ -0.6
-10 (b')
● ■
▼●
■▼▼
(b)
● -0.10

-1.5 -▲- ΞH =10

▼
-0.15 ● -0.8 ■ ▼
● ▼ ● 50 -1000 -800 -600 -400 -200
● -100 -50 ●
0 200 400

-200 -100 -1500 -1000 -500

0 100 150 200

0 100 200 300 0

xt =t(L/ξ0+)1/ν x μ=βcΔμ(L/ξ0,μ )Δ/ν

(c)
●
L=20, s1,c=1.0, s2,c=-0.01, λ=2.0, T=Tc
● ●
●
■ ● ■ ■
▲
▼ ▲
▼ ▲
▼ ▲ ▲ ▼▲ ■▲
■▲
■▲
▼▼ ▼
■ ▲
▼ ▼
▲ ▼
▲
● L=20, s1,c=1.0, s2,c=-0.01, λ=2.0, μ=μc 0 ■
●
■ ■
▼ ▼ ▲
▼ ▲ ▼▲
▼ ▲ ▼▲▼
■●
●
4 ■ ■●
●
● ●
■ ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ■
■ ● ● ■●
-1 -●- ΞR =1
■ ■ ■ ●

LβcFtot,SIA/(πΞ2R ΞH ) ⨯ 10-1
●
LβFtot,SIA/(πΞ2R ΞH ) ⨯ 10-2

■ ■ ● ■
2 ■ ● ■ ■
■
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ●
▼
▲
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼▼●
■
▼▼
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲▲▲▲▲▼ ■▼
▼▼
▲▲▲
▲▼
▲▼
■
●▼
▲ ▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼ ▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ ▼
▲ -2 ● -■- ΞR =2
0 ■▼
▼ ▼
-●- ΞR =1 (c')
■ ▼
■ ■
▼▼ ■▼ ▼ ▼
0.4
■
▼ ▲
●■■ ▼ -3 0.00▲ ▲ ▼▲▲ ▲ ▲
▲
▲ -▼- ΞR =5
-2 ■ ● ▼ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲
▼■
▼
0.3
▼ ▲ ▲ ▲▲▲
-■- ΞR =2 ▼ ■●
▼▼ ▼
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
▼
■● ●
0.2
■
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲▲ ▼ ▼ -0.05
●
-4
▲▲▲ ▼▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ -4 -▲- ΞR =10
●
▲ ▲ ▼■
-▼- ΞR =5
Δ

0.1

▼▲ ▲▲
▲ ▼
Δ

■
▲▲▲▼
▲
●
■
0.0
-0.10
●
▼ ■ ■
■
● -0.1 ■ ▼ ▼■

(d)
-▲- ΞR =10 ▼▼ (d')
-6 -0.2 ■
▼▼
-5 -0.15 ▼ ▼ ■●
-1000 -800 -600 -400 -200 ● ●
●● -100 -50
-100 -1500 -1000 -500
0 200 400
0 50 100 150 200
0 100 200 300 0
xt =t(L/ξ0+)1/ν x μ=βcΔμ(L/ξ0,μ )Δ/ν

Figure 4. Behavior of the total force Ftot,SIA (multiplied by the separation L and normalized by kB T and the area
of the cones’s base πΞ2R ) in d = 3 for the cases where: [(a) and (b)] the cone’s apex is toward the plate and [(c)
and (d)] the height of the cone is parallel to the plate the cone interacts with. On (a) and (c) the temperature
dependance at ∆µ = 0.0, (xµ = 0.0) is depicted, while on (b) and (d) that of the field one at T = Tc , (xt = 0.0).
|
The upper two subfigures illustrate how Ftot,SIA changes with the increase of the cone’s height ΞH , and on the
|
lower ones how Ftot,SIA is influenced by the variation of the base radius ΞR . There the force is additionally
normalized by ΞH . The minimal separation between the objects confining the fluid medium is taken L = 20 and
the parameters characterizing the interactions in the systems have the following values: λ = 2.0, s2,c = −0.01
and s1,c = 1.0.

|
The typical behavior of Fsing,SIA as a function of the chemical potential at T = Tc is presented
on Fig. 3(b). The force is attractive in the "gas" phase of the fluid, i.e., for xµ < 0 and repulsive
otherwise with an infinite slope at the critical point, where a sign change occurs. Hence, the CCF
changes sign once in the "liquid" phase (xµ > 0) at βc ∆µ  1.2495 × 10−3 and its minimum in-
| | |
creases in magnitude slightly in comparison to Fcrit,SIA , as (FCas,SIA /Fcrit,SIA )|min = 1.0253, where
|
Fcrit,SIA (xµ,min ) = −6.1077Ξ2R pN. From Eq. (33) follows that the vdWF does not depend on µ, as a
result of which the singular component of the CCF only "shifts up" and changes sign for µ < µc at
βc ∆µ  −3.293 × 10−3 . When add up to the Casimir force component stemming from the finite-size
|
contributions, the total force exhibits behavior similar to that of Fcrit,SIA , but now the sign change
occurs closer to the critical point at βc ∆µ  0.4794 × 10−3 .
Some results about the behavior of the total force in a cone-plate system with geometry (|) are
presented on Fig. 4(a) and (b). The first obvious result we notice is that for fixed radius of the base,

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MATEC Web of Conferences 145, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201814501008
NCTAM 2017

the force decreases with the increase of the height like Ξ−2
H [see Eqs. (37a) and (37b)]. This is easily
understood given that the CCF strongly depends on the confining area of the object’s surface. When
ΞH is increased at fixed ΞR the area of the surface elements, which are close to the plate and hence
have higher contribution weight, decreases which in turn results in critical Casimir force with lower
strength. The same is in a way true for the vdWF, but in this case the decrease is caused from the
decline of the number of constituents in the volume near the cone’s apex which are near the surface
of the plate. As a function of xt the force changes sign twice, as the temperature for which it occurs
in the "gas" phase decreases towards Tc with the increase of ΞH , and viceversa for T > Tc . A simple
quantitative assessment indicates that t1 = −4.633×10−3 and t2 = 12.776×10−3 , where ti ≡ [Ti (ΞH =
1) − Ti (ΞH = 10)]/Ti (ΞH = 10), i = 1, 2 with T1 (ΞH = 1) = 0.9944Tc and T2 (ΞH = 1) = 1.0183Tc .
The temperature at which the minimum of the force is expected to occur also decreases towards
Tc when ΞH is increased. In addition, for the difference in the magnitude of the force at the point
where it reaches its minimum for the lowest and highest values of ΞH considered here we found that
| | |
[Ftot,SIA (ΞH = 1)/Ftot,SIA (ΞH = 10)] = 36.1428, where Ftot,SIA (ΞH = 10) = −5.0155Ξ2R fN.
|
For the same geometry, but as a function of xµ , Ftot,SIA changes sign only once for ∆µ > 0, as
the value of the chemical potential for which this is observed decreases towards µc with the increase
of ΞH . The strength of the force at its minimum also decreases as does the value of xµ at which
it emerges. This case is quantitatively describes as follows: xµ (ΞH = 1)|Ftot =0 = 52.763, xµ (ΞH =
|
10)|Ftot =0 = 4.096, xµ (ΞH = 1)|Ftot,min = −117.649, xµ (ΞH = 10)|Ftot,min = −19.683, [Ftot,SIA (ΞH =
| |
1)/Ftot,SIA (ΞH = 10)]min = 58.905, with Ftot,SIA (ΞH = 10) = −21.346Ξ2R fN.
As far as the geometry (|) is concerned, here we see that its differences with the one designated
by (|) are only quantitative, and hence no special comments are needed. The results are depicted on
Fig. 4(c) and (d).
For the sake of completeness, we give the critical temperature of xenon Tc = 289.765 K and the
value of the critical chemical potential per kB Tc : βc µc = −16.213, calculated using Eqs. (2.2b),
(5.37b) and (8.8) from [20].
Although the magnitude of the TF together with the CCF may seems rather negligible, a com-
parison with say the weight of a single particle proofs otherwise. For instance, the weight of a
platinum conical in shape particle of height ΞH = 100 and base radius ΞR = 10 is approximately
Fwcone ≈ 1.2 × 10−2 pN. In the liquid phase of xenon at T = 206.4 K and ∆µ = 0 one finds that
| | |
Ftot ≈ 120 pN, Ftot ≈ 1.2 × 10−2 pN and Ftot ≈ 17 pN. Therefore the repulsive part of the total
force in one such concrete system is indeed capable of levitating a single particle or a system of such.
Thus, one can indeed make use of the interplay between the quantum and thermodynamical fluctu-
ations for governing the behavior of objects, say colloidal particles, at small distances. It can also
provide a strategy for solving problems with handling, feeding, trapping and fixing of micro parts in
nanotechnology resolving the issues related to sticking of the particles on the surface of the mechan-
ical manipulator utilizing, e.g., the reversible dependence on the forces under minute changes of the
temperature of the critical medium. One can perform grabbing of particles for small values of xt ,
where the force is attractive and release them at a given spacial position after slightly increasing or
decreasing of temperature achieving in that way a value of xt with a repulsive TF.

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support via Contract No. DN 02/8 of Bulgarian
NSF.

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MATEC Web of Conferences 145, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201814501008
NCTAM 2017

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