Repulsive Casimir forces between solid materials with high-refractive-index intervening liquids

In order to explore repulsive Casimir or van der Waals forces between solid materials with liquid as the intervening medium, we analyze dielectric data for a wide range of materials as, for example, (p)olytetrafluoroethylene, polystyrene, silica, and more than 20 liquids. Although significant variation in the dielectric data from different sources exists, we provide a scheme based on measured static dielectric constants, refractive indices, and applying Kramers-Kronig consistency to dielectric data to create accurate dielectric functions at imaginary frequencies. The latter is necessary for more accurate force calculations via the Lifshitz theory, thereby allowing reliable predictions of repulsive Casimir forces.