Dynamical Casimir-Polder interaction between a chiral molecule and a surface

Abstract

We develop a dynamical approach to study the Casimir-Polder force between an initially bare molecule and a magnetodielectric body at finite temperature, valid for arbitrary magnetodielectric properties and also in the presence of chiral effects. Switching on the interaction between the molecule and the field at a particular time, we study the resulting temporal evolution of the Casimir-Polder interaction. The dynamical self-dressing of the molecule and its population-induced dynamics are accounted for and discussed. In particular, we find that the Casimir-Polder force between a molecule and a surface oscillates in time with a frequency related to the molecular transition frequency. We verify that the dynamical force converges to the static result for time much larger than the inverse of the transition frequency, and it is particularly strong around the back-reaction time t=2d/c, the time needed for the molecule to emit and reabsorb a photon reflected by the surface.