Dynamical Casimir effect for surface plasmon polaritons

• The theory of dynamical Casimir effect (DCE) in the metal–dielectric interface excited by a monochromatic wave is proposed.
• It is shown that the field enhancement associated with surface plasmon polaritons strongly enhances the yield of the DCE.
• The numerical calculations of the enhancement factor are made.
• The scheme of experimental setup to observe the DCE in the metal–dielectric interface is proposed.
• Additional methods to enhance the DCE in the metal–dielectric interface are discussed.

The emission of photon pairs by a metal–dielectric interface placed between the mirrors of the resonator and excited by a plane wave is considered. The excitation causes oscillations in time of the optical length of surface plasmon polaritons in the interface. This leads to the dynamical Casimir effect – the generation of pairs of surface plasmon polariton quanta, which transfer to photons outside the interface. In the case of a properly chosen interface, the yield of two-photon emission may exceed that of the usual spontaneous parametric down-conversion.