No Arabic abstract
We present the results of an experiment on measuring the gradient of the Casimir force between an Au-coated hollow glass microsphere and graphene-coated fused silica plate by means of a modified atomic force microscope cantilever based technique operated in the dynamic regime. These measurements were performed in high vacuum at room temperature. The energy gap and the concentration of impurities in the graphene sample used have been measured utilizing scanning tunnelling spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The measurement results for the gradients of the Casimir force are found to be in a very good agreement with theory using the polarization tensor of graphene at nonzero temperature depending on the energy gap and chemical potential with no fitting parameters. The theoretical predictions of the same theory at zero temperature are experimentally excluded over the measurement region from 250 to 517 nm. We have also investigated a dependence of the thermal correction to the Casimir force gradient on the values of the energy gap, chemical potential, and on the presence of a substrate supporting the graphene sheet. It is shown that the observed thermal effect is consistent in size with that arising for pristine graphene sheets if the impact of real conditions such as nonzero values of the energy gap, chemical potential, and the presence of a substrate is included. Implications of the obtained results to the resolution of the long-standing problems in Casimir physics are discussed. In addition to the paper published previously [M. Liu {it et al}., Phys. Rev. Lett. {bf 126}, 206802 (2021)], we present measurement results for the energy gap of the graphene sample, double the experimental data for the Casimir force, and perform a more complete theoretical analysis.
In net-neutral systems correlations between charge fluctuations generate strong attractive thermal Casimir forces and engineering these forces to optimize nanodevice performance is an important challenge. We show how the normal and lateral thermal Casimir forces between two plates containing Brownian charges can be modulated by decorrelating the system through the application of an electric field, which generates a nonequilibrium steady state with a constant current in one or both plates, reducing the ensuing fluctuation-generated normal force while at the same time generating a lateral drag force. This hypothesis is confirmed by detailed numerical simulations as well as an analytical approach based on stochastic density functional theory.
The dynamical Casimir effect is an intriguing phenomenon in which photons are generated from vacuum due to a non-adiabatic change in some boundary conditions. In particular, it connects the motion of an accelerated mechanical mirror to the generation of photons. While pioneering experiments demonstrating this effect exist, a conclusive measurement involving a mechanical generation is still missing. We show that a hybrid system consisting of a piezoelectric mechanical resonator coupled to a superconducting cavity may allow to electro-mechanically generate measurable photons from vacuum, intrinsically associated to the dynamical Casimir effect. Such an experiment may be achieved with current technology, based on film bulk acoustic resonators directly coupled to a superconducting cavity. Our results predict a measurable photon generation rate, which can be further increased through additional improvements such as using superconducting metamaterials.
We propose a superconducting circuit comprising a dc-SQUID with mechanically compliant arm embedded in a coplanar microwave cavity that realizes an optomechanical system with a degenerate or non-degenerate parametric interaction generated via the dynamical Casimir effect. For experimentally feasible parameters, this setup is capable of reaching the single-photon, ultra-strong coupling regime, while simultaneously possessing a parametric coupling strength approaching the renormalized cavity frequency. This opens up the possibility of observing the interplay between these two fundamental nonlinearities at the single-photon level.
A fundamental prediction of quantum mechanics is that there are random fluctuations everywhere in a vacuum because of the zero-point energy. Remarkably, quantum electromagnetic fluctuations can induce a measurable force between neutral objects, known as the Casimir effect, which has attracted broad interests. The Casimir effect can dominate the interaction between microstructures at small separations and has been utilized to realize nonlinear oscillation, quantum trapping, phonon transfer, and dissipation dilution. However, a non-reciprocal device based on quantum vacuum fluctuations remains an unexplored frontier. Here we report quantum vacuum mediated non-reciprocal energy transfer between two micromechanical oscillators. We modulate the Casimir interaction parametrically to realize strong coupling between two oscillators with different resonant frequencies. We engineer the systems spectrum to have an exceptional point in the parameter space and observe the asymmetric topological structure near it. By dynamically changing the parameters near the exceptional point and utilizing the non-adiabaticity of the process, we achieve non-reciprocal energy transfer with high contrast. Our work represents an important development in utilizing quantum vacuum fluctuations to regulate energy transfer at the nanoscale and build functional Casimir devices.
We derive modified reflection coefficients for electromagnetic waves in the THz and far infrared range. The idea is based on hydrodynamic boundary conditions for metallic conduction electrons. The temperature-dependent part of the Casimir pressure between metal plates is evaluated. The results should shed light on the thermal anomaly where measurements deviate from the standard fluctuation electrodynamics for conducting metals.