Dipoar interactions in confined geometries: From Casimir to entanglement

Dipolar interactions lay at the basis of a variety of phenomena in physics and chemistry, ranging from fundamental quantum vacuum forces and energy transfer all the way to emerging quantum technologies.  This work concerns the important possibility to drastically modify these dipole-dipole interactions, thus potentially affecting much of the above phenomena:  Since the interactions between dipoles are mediated by (virtual) photon modes, they can be enhanced by considering dipoles embedded in geometries that confine these modes. In this context, I will present our results on the possibilities for giant van der Waals and Casimir interactions via transmission lines, long-range deterministic entanglement and non-additive many-body physics with laser-induced interactions.