Inhomogeneity-Induced Casimir Transport of NanoparticlesShow others and affiliations
2018 (English)In: Physical Review Letters, ISSN 0031-9007, E-ISSN 1079-7114, Vol. 121, no 13, article id 130401Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
We propose a scheme for transporting nanoparticles immersed in a fluid, relying on quantum vacuum fluctuations. The mechanism lies in the inhomogeneity-induced lateral Casimir force between a nanoparticle and a gradient metasurface and the relaxation of the conventional Dzyaloshinskii-Lifshitz-Pitaevskii constraint, which allows quantum levitation for a broader class of material configurations. The velocity for a nanosphere levitated above a grating is calculated and can be up to a few microns per minute. The Born approximation gives general expressions for the Casimir energy which reveal size-selective transport. For any given metasurface, a certain particle-metasurface separation exists where the transport velocity peaks, forming a "Casimir passage." The sign and strength of the Casimir interactions can be tuned by the shapes of liquid-air menisci, potentially allowing real-time control of an otherwise passive force, and enabling interesting on-off or directional switching of the transport process.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Physical Society, 2018. Vol. 121, no 13, article id 130401
National Category
Physical Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-235874DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.130401ISI: 000445515500001PubMedID: 30312057Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85053924414OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-235874DiVA, id: diva2:1254352
Note
QC 20181009
2018-10-092018-10-092022-06-26Bibliographically approved